FIRING LINE: What Manibela feels

By Robert B. Roque Jr.

While most of us might probably agree on transport modernization, let’s shed some light on the clamor that triggered the latest jeepney strike: deception in the eyes of transport group Manibela.

The challenges of consolidation are real. The LTFRB claims 86% of public utility vehicle (PUV) operators have consolidated. But here’s the fine print: that number includes all units with franchises — not just jeepneys.

Worse, only 43% have actually completed the process. The rest, they say, are still “in process” or just hanging. Yet, these same operators and drivers are now at risk of losing their livelihoods.

Manibela alleges that many drivers who thought they had consolidated were later rejected, leaving them stranded without franchises. Some paid fees to cooperatives that turned them away. If that’s the perspective you view things from, it’s not really far-fetched for them to go on strike.

Obviously, many drivers and operators are still in limbo, confused or disillusioned, for in the midst of all these, the government is more consistently brushing off valid concerns. Last Friday, a few of them already grounded their vehicles ahead of their pre-announced March 25-26 strike.

Now, after the strike, DOTr Secretary Vince Dizon suddenly acknowledged the need for adjustments and promised a solution in two weeks. Ano yan, Sec. Dizon — an epiphany in the middle of Lent?

After months of hard deadlines and unwavering insistence that the program was on track, he now admits, “We need to validate the numbers” and “see the real situation on the ground.” I get it that he’s just a month into the job, but that sounds so sophomoric.

Confronted by a strike, now you want to validate and study? What was the government doing before — guessing?

The real blunder of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) isn’t the idea of modernization — it’s their disastrous execution.

They knew modern, energy-efficient vehicles come at a steep price, yet this multi-trillion-budgeted government failed to craft an accessible, comprehensive, and reasonable payment scheme for all. Instead, they pushed operators into uncertainty, offering half-baked policies while expecting blind compliance. Modernization without a viable financial framework isn’t progress — it’s negligence.

And if the government insists on forcing this plan through, it must first answer for its incompetence, now best validated by Sec. Dizon.

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