Modern jeeps worth P900K available for purchase: LTFRB

FILE: Passengers observe safe physical distancing while aboard a modern jeepney plying the Roces-Cubao (Diamond) route along Panay Avenue in Quezon City on Monday (June 22, 2020). (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)

MANILA – The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said cheaper modern public utility vehicles (PUV) are available for purchase by transport cooperatives, insisting that the government has no say in their purchase.

During a press conference at the LTFRB headquarters in Quezon City on Thursday, LTFRB Chair Teofilo Guadiz III said a local and a Japanese manufacturer are already offering modern jeepneys worth around PHP900,000.

With the PHP280,000 subsidy provided by the government per unit under the PUV modernization program (PUVMP), Guadiz said the price further drops to PHP700,000.

“Divide this into seven years, it will only be something like PHP10,000 to PHP12,000 monthly. Hindi na po mabigat ito sa ating mga tsuper (This is not unaffordable to our PUV operators anymore),” he said.

The statement came in response to criticisms that modern PUVs imported from China cost around PHP1.8 million to PHP2.8 million per unit.

Guadiz said cooperatives who purchased these expensive units remain profitable as they can be operable for 16 hours a day.

Land Transportation Office Technical Division chief Joel Bolano said there are currently 54 different modern PUVs made by several manufacturers accredited by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to have passed the Philippine National Standard (PNS).

“Yung mga lately na-accredit, may mga iconic jeepney na po doon. At available naman po ang data with the DOTr (Department of Transportation) para makita po kung ano-ano at kung sino-sino ang mga provider at kung ito po ay locally manufactured o ito po ay imported (Some of those newly-accredited have the iconic jeepney design. And that data is available with the DOTr, they can see which models and who are their makers so they can decide whether to purchase locally or from overseas),” Bolano said.

Bolano said the decision of which PUVs to purchase remains solely in the hands of transport cooperatives or corporations.

“Hindi po totoo na mayroon pong nakikialam po ang LTFRB. Ang katotohanan po niyan ay sila ang may option kung saan po sila pwede bumili (It is not true that the LTFRB meddles with this. The truth is they have the option where to buy),” he said.

On Wednesday, officials of the LTFRB and DOTr were questioned by House Committee on Transportation Chair Romeo Acop and other lawmakers due to unaddressed issues by some drivers and operators on the PUVMP.

The LTFRB and the OTC, Guadiz said, will recalibrate the PUVMP to address issues, such as some operators losing ownership of their PUVs to their cooperative and will remain receptive following calls for President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to reconsider his decision not to allow an extension for the consolidation deadline.