Malacañang said traditional jeepneys will not make a comeback anytime soon because of the impossibility of implementing physical distancing in the said vehicles.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement following suggestions to allow jeepneys to resume operations following the transportation woes experienced by workers on the first day of the implementation of the general community quarantine (GCQ) in Metro Manila on Monday.
Roque, in an interview with ANC, instead, said modern jeepneys will soon be deployed.
“It’s not on the immediate horizon because it is almost a physical impossibility to have social distancing when passengers face each other in the jeepney,” Roque said on Wednesday morning, referring to the resumption of jeepneys.
“However, there are now modern jeepneys being deployed where the seating arrangement is similar to buses. And I understand these kinds of modern jeepneys might be deployed sooner than later. The traditional face-to-face jeepneys out of the question for now,” he added.
To help the displaced jeepney drivers, Rqque said they may be hired as contact-tracers.
“We’re actually considering alternative livelihoods for them. There is a suggestion that they be employed as contact-tracers because we do need about 120,000 of them, there’s only about 30,000 employed so far,” he said.
“We’re also considering the complete reconfiguration of the jeepney to comply with minimum health standards,” he added.
The public has slammed the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for its transportation policy during the GCQ, saying it was biased for those who have private vehicles.
Meanwhile, Roque renewed the government’s appeal to employers to retain a 50-50 work arrangement so not all of their workers would have to go out and be exposed to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“Although we have opened the economy and the workforce can come back 100 percent, it does not mean that we should let them into the work premises 100 percent because we simply do not have the capacity yet to provide public transportation if all of our workers are to be compelled to work in situs,” he said.
He advised private companies to resort to what the government is doing.
“Government is back 100 percent but still on a 50-50 work arrangement where 50 percent of the workforce actually work from home and there’s a schedule where there’s a shifting of government personnel reporting to the office,” he added.
The Palace official explained that public transportation really has to be reduced if there is going to be physical distancing.
“It’s really part of science that the only way to prevent a disease now is to observe social distancing. We will never get to the point that we can provide 100 percent transportation to what we used to have in the workplace,” Roque said.
“Having said that, DOTr did act expeditiously. They authorized the deployment of commercial buses in two lanes. But we have to make sure, actually, that the health concerns take precedence over everything else,” he added. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)
