BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City – Provincial jeepney drivers rejected the counteroffer of the city government that would allow provincial jeepneys without car passes to enter the city from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. every Monday.
“The offer is good but our drivers are apprehensive. Police auxiliaries arrested many of them in the past,” said Proceso Parreño, president of the Confederation of Iloilo Provincial Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association (CIPJODA).
The counterproposal of the city aims to prevent passengers from getting stranded at transport terminals, particularly every Monday.
The city government is regulating the entry of provincial jeepneys to the city by limiting the number of car passes – just 100 to be divided among various jeepney associations under CIPJODA. The aim is to decongest the city’s streets.
There are 1,602 passenger jeepney units in the province.
Parreño said they only learned about the proposal of the city government more than one week ago through Provincial Administrator Raul Banias and through media interviews with Councilor Plaridel Nava, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod’s Committee on Transportation.
The drivers had proposed to enter the city at said time frame daily, not just every Monday, to no avail.
Parreño said CIPJODA is seeking for a compromise agreement with the city government signed by Nava.
“It would be formal if we have documents on hand so no one can apprehend our drivers,” Parreño said.
“Although the apprehended drivers were not sanctioned, the hassle it made has affected them,” he added.
Today, Parreño believes, most of their drivers will not enter the city to avoid apprehension.
Prior to the city’s decision to release 100 car passes, the original plan was to give each town just four car. Provincial drivers, however, protested as this would drastically reduce their daily income.
Recently, provincial jeepney drivers agreed that Sta. Barbara town will get the biggest chunk of the car passes – 16.
Sta. Barbara has five jeepney associations with a total of 250 jeepney units.
The town of Janiuay will get 10 car passes. It has a unified transport group with a total of 165 jeepney units.
Other jeepney associations will have one to five car passes depending on the number of their units./PN
