By ALEXANDRIA SAN JUAN
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said that it will allow traditional jeepneys to serve the riding public even beyond the June 2020 deadline which requires the modernization of all existing public utility vehicles (PUVs), as long as they are still “roadworthy” and its operators will express their intent to modernize their units.
The Department also clarified that its PUV modernization program will still continue to be implemented amid recent issues surrounding the project.
“The DOTr emphasized that the implementation of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) will continue and there’s no turning back,” the agency said in a statement on Thursday night.
This was after news on the suspension of the PUVMP implementation came out following the Senate’s deliberation on the DOTr’s P147 billion budget proposal also on Thursday.
During the plenary deliberation on the DOTr’s proposed 2020 budget, Senator Grace Poe said that the DOTr will adopt their recommendation to let PUJs stay on the road, provided they pass roadworthiness standards.
“The DOTr also announced that it is no longer pushing for the modernizing of the 170,000 units of PUVs. Instead, it is adopting our recommendation to use road worthiness as a standard. Meaning, emissions, the safety, basically, and then the engine,” the chair of the Senate public services committee said.
“I am glad that the DOTr heeded this but this is also for their sake. It will be more pragmatic for us, expedient that if it is still plyable, it is safe, and didn’t have any adverse emissions, it could be allowed. And it would also save a lot,” Poe added.
However, DOTr Assistant Secretay Goddess Libiran explained that the PUVMP implementation will still continue despite allowing traditional jeepneys to ply beyond 2020.
“Ang sinabi lang namin, by July 2020, kung hindi pa sila (operators) nakakapag-modernize ng unit, we are considering na hindi sila automatic na i-phase out as long pumasa sila sa computerized MVIS,” Libiran clarified.
Should a unit pass, Libiran added that they will be granted a provisional authority (PA) valid for a year as they are required to undergo again the technology-based MVIS to renew.
But Libiran said that PUV operators are still required to file their petition for consolidation and express their intent to modernize their units or else, their PAs will be cancelled even if they passed the roadworthiness test.
“Should the existing operators fail to file for consolidation by June 30, 2020, their route will be opened to all interested applicants, and the existing operators will no longer enjoy the prior operator rule,” Libiran said on Thursday.
“Only compliant units will be accepted when the routes are opened to new operators after June 2020,” the assistant secretary, who was also present during the Senate deliberations, emphasized.
