ILOILO City – More modernized jeepneys are poised to ply this southern city’s streets.
An additional 95 units will be received by a transport cooperative by the end of this month.
These will be plying the following routes:
* Tagbak Terminal in Jaro (15 units)
* Mohon Terminal in Arevalo (20 units)
* People’s Terminal in Pavia (15 units)
* Calumpang in Molo (five units)
* Mandurriao (five units)
* City Proper – Megaworld (five units), and
* Christ the King Terminal (ITGSI) in Jaro (10 units)
Raymundo “Boyet” Parcon, Western Visayas Transport Cooperative (WVTC) president and concurrent president of the Iloilo City Loop Alliance of Jeepney Operators and Drivers’ Association (ICLAJODA), said this was only the first batch from Metro Manila-based company FAW.
Parcon said the WVTC ordered 533 units with a total fund of P1.7 billion loaned by the cooperative from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) and payable for seven years.
Each modern jeep unit costs P2.450 million.
“Gusto sang bangko nga by tranche ang pag-deliver. So ang first loan namon was P200 million pero ang gin-allocate sang LANDBANK is P1.7 billion para sa more than 500 units,” explained Parcon in an interview with Panay News.
The cooperative already started hiring member drivers and conductors to operate the new units, prioritizing those with license restriction codes 1, 2 and 3.
Drivers and conductors will receive at least the daily minimum wage and benefits like Social Security System, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Pag-IBIG.
WVTC will launch the new units of modern jeeps on March 7.
Parcon said they had to expedite the delivery of the 95 units since, pending amendment of Memorandum Circular (MC) 2022-033 from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) central office, all traditional jeepney franchises, either with provisional authority or special permit, will expire on March 31, 2023.
Parcon disclosed that 20 percent of the total 1,700 units under his cooperative stopped operating since last month.
Some traditional jeepneys with plate numbers ending in 1 and 2 stopped operating; they could no longer renew their Certificate of Registration (CR) because of an existing Land Transportation Office policy – if the franchise is shorter than six months.
Traditional jeepneys with plate numbers ending in 1 were supposed to renew their CR in January while those with plate numbers ending in 2 are scheduled to renew CR this February.
However, since the franchise for traditional jeepneys was supposed to expire on March 31, they could not meet the required minimum of six months of franchise validity.
“Aton ginapanawagan nga i-follow up sang LTFRB and Department of Transportation kon ano ang status sang MC kay damo na sang aton mga kaupdanan nga nagabakho ilabi na ang drivers naton nga nag-untat sang biyahe,” said Parcon.
LTFRB-6 legal counsel and spokesperson, Atty. Salvador Altura, earlier said LTFRB chair Teofilo Guadiz III issued a statement last week on a possible extension of traditional jeepney franchises, giving operators and drivers more time to form cooperatives for the government’s public utility vehicle (PUV) modernization program./PN
