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CEBU: The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will deploy frontliners during weekends and even holidays until the end of the month to facilitate the application for consolidation of public utility vehicles (PUV) operators, a transport official said Friday.
Eduardo Montealto Jr., regional director of LTFRB-7, said the agency is giving transport groups more time to apply for consolidation as there will be no more extension of the Dec. 31 deadline set by the government.
‘The government is here to help the operators of traditional jeepneys to consolidate either as cooperative or corporation,’ Montealto Jr. told the Philippine News Agency as he urged members of progressive transport groups to embrace the modernization of public transportation.
The PUV modernization in Central Visayas is gaining ground as many transport operators are now willing to support the government’s PUV Modernization Program, he said.
Of about 6,000 traditional jeepney units in Central Visayas, he said about 10 p
ercent of them are no longer running their routes and owners of those units have disposed of their Certificate of Public Convenience (CPC) to other people or entities.
From the 59 percent of all traditional jeepneys in the region, this has increased to 65 percent because many applicants are catching up with the consolidation, he said.
Meanwhile, Montealto said members of transport group Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (PISTON) did not show up at the LTFRB regional office in Cebu on Friday for their supposed second day of transport strike.
‘About 20 strikers held their protest outside of the LTFRB-7 on Thursday, but they are no longer here for their second day (on Friday) of nationwide transport strike,’ he said, adding that no public jeepneys joined the strike.
Source: Philippines News Agency
