SENATORS BACK TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF PUV MODERNIZATION

SENATOR “Idol” Raffy Tulfo, along with his fellow senators, filed a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate to temporarily suspend the implementation of the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP) formerly known as the PUV Modernization Program.

Those who authored Senate Resolution (SR) No. 1096, along with Tulfo, include Senate President Francis Escudero, Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, Minority Leader Koko Pimentel, Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada; and Senators Nancy Binay, Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano, Bato Dela Rosa, Loren Legarda, Imee Marcos, Robinhood Padilla, Grace Poe, Bong Revilla, Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar, Mark Villar and Migz Zubiri.

During the July 23 hearing of the Committee on Public Services which Tulfo chairs, he found out that the modernization program is unplanned and rushed.

“There is an urgent need to thoroughly review and reassess the impact of the program, to alleviate the fears of the drivers and transport operators who will be directly burdened by its implementation,” the resolution read.

In filing SR No. 1096, Tulfo and his colleagues highlighted the valid and urgent concerns raised by affected drivers, groups, unions, and transport cooperatives, particularly issues on consolidation into cooperatives.

The senators said that these small stakeholders, particularly the drivers who remain unconsolidated, are effectively forced out of their livelihoods. This is caused by insufficiency of information drive on the part of the government to educate affected parties, as well as the burden of financing the cost of modern PUVs.

The senators stressed that more consideration and clarifications are needed to be made by the Department of Transportation in order to address the concerns voiced by affected stakeholders, especially the drivers.

As for those who were already forced or volunteered to consolidate, they are still free to ply their usual routes while review is ongoing.