BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO – The Confederation of Iloilo Province Jeepney Owners and Drivers Association Inc. (CIPJODA) wants the old car pass system back.
The present one being enforced by the city government under the Comprehensive Perimeter Boundary Ordinance (CPBO) – four car passes only for every town – has resulted to the drivers’ losing from 40 to 70 percent of their daily income, said Proceso Parreño, CIPJODA president.
Only provincial jeepneys with car passes can enter the city.
CIPJODA officers and members had a meeting with Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. once more yesterday.
They reported to the governor their observations on the CPBO implementation which started on June 2.
According to Parreño, drivers from the so-called “second towns” or those far and not adjacent to Iloilo City lost 75 percent of their daily income while the rest lost from 40 to 60 percent of their daily collection.
Prior to the implementation of CPBO, according to Sta. Barbara drivers, they netted P500 daily (out of the P2,000 raked in for whole day minus P500 for the “boundary” or rent paid to the jeepney owner and P1,000 spent for fuel).
With the CPBO’s new car pass scheme, they said, their net income dropped to P180.
Previously, the number of car passes that the city government issued to each transport association was 30 percent of the total number of their jeepney units.
According to Parreño, the CPBO has also resulted to the commuters spending more on fares. Now, they have to transfer jeepneys two to three times to reach their destinations in the city.
CPBO limited the number of car passes to regulate the entry of provincial jeepneys in the city, in a bid to decongest the metro’s frequently jammed streets.
But according to Parreño, it is not the provincial jeepneys that cause traffic congestion because they do not pass through the main city streets in the first place.
He said undisciplined motorists and the poor enforcement of loading / unloading and parking / no parking rules and regulations is the culprit.
Parreño also raised the following concerns:
- operation of the transport terminal in Brgy. San Pedro, Molo district
- vans and buses discriminately go in and out of the city without car passes
- more car passes are given to “first towns” or towns adjacent to the city, thereby defeating the purpose of cancelling the car passes previously issued to non-first town transport associations.
Defensor said he will discuss these concerns withy Iloilo City’s Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog when they meet this Sunday./PN
