Service contracting for jeepneys pushed

CEBU, Philippines — Labor groups Partido Manggagawa (PM) and Sentro-Cebu are asking the government to provide funds for service contracting of public utility jeepneys aside from the Pantawid Pasada Program.

The groups reacted to the approval by Congress of the budget for fuel subsidy for jeepney drivers. Under the 2023 national budget, the allocation for pantawid pasada program was increased to P3 billion from P2.5 billion last year.

Dennis Derige, spokesperson of PM-Cebu and coordinator of Sentro-Cebu, said that a better formula is public funding of both fuel subsidies and service contracting for jeepneys.

“Higher fuel prices are not the only problem of jeepney drivers and operators. Just as bad is the uncertainty brought by the public utility vehicle modernization program of the government. Service contracting will allow jeepney cooperatives who undertook the difficult transition to survive and hopefully thrive,” said Derige.

Derige also stated that no funds for the public utility vehicle modernization program have been set aside for this year. This means that the supposed P160,000 state subsidy for operators of traditional jeeps to transition to modern jeeps will not be funded.

Jeepney organizations are calling for the subsidy to be raised to P 500,000 since the cheapest modern jeep now costs at least P2 million.

Under the service contracting scheme implemented in the late 2020, jeepney operators are paid by the government to ply their routes and commuters get to ride for free.

It can be recalled that during the pandemic, service contacting of both buses and jeepneys was allotted P5.5 billion under the Bayanihan 2 and then another P3 billion was budgeted in 2021.

Groups such as the National Confederation of Transportworkers Union-Sentro and Move As One Coalition are pushing for service contracting to shift from being a form of pandemic assistance to being the better normal of public transportation.

The groups assert that service contracting benefits all sectors like the commuters through a safe and convenient transport system; jeepney drivers who will gain status as employees of jeepney cooperatives and thus enjoy the rights and benefits of formal workers; and jeepney operators organized in cooperatives who will have guaranteed source of income from service contracts of several years in duration. — FPL (FREEMAN)