An official from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-Region 11 (LTFRB-11) said 88 units of modernized public utility vehicles under the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) are now operational in the region.
Engineer Ronnel Victor Panigon, transportation development officer and PUVMP head of LTFRB-11, said 87 of these modernized units are operating in Davao del Sur, where many cooperatives have completed the consolidation process.
These vehicles are plying “inter-local government unit routes” such as Digos City-Kiblawan, Digos City-Malalag, Digos City-Malita (a town in Davao Occidental).
The remaining one was the newly launched unit owned by Mandaya Van Transport System Cooperative, which plies the Davao to Baganga route via Mati City. The route was launched Friday, April 11.
“The modernization of public utility vehicles is ongoing, contrary to some chitchats on social media that the national government stopped it,” Panigon said on the sidelines of Kapehan sa Dabaw press conference at SM City Davao, Monday morning.
He said they successfully consolidated 92 percent of cooperative-owned public transport units outside Davao City under the PUVMP.
“This 92 percent equates to 33 transport service entities in Davao Region,11 from Davao del Sur and Davao Occidental, while the remaining 22 were from Davao del Norte, Davao de Oro, and Davao Oriental,” Panigon added.
He clarified that Davao City’s case is “special” because its public transport modernization project is a national project and cannot be part of the usual consolidation processes.
Consolidated vehicles are those that are registered under a transport cooperative or corporation that has been recognized by the LTFRB.
LTFRB earlier said that provisional authority granted to PUJs in Davao City will remain valid until the deployment of buses under the public transport modernization project, also known as the High Priority Bus System (HPBS).
The PUVMP is a program for other areas in the region.
The P73.4-billion HPBS will be funded by a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and from the national and local budgets.
However, the city government of Davao said they have yet to receive ADB funding from the national government.
Mindanao Development Authority chair Leo Tereso Magno earlier said the project is still a go amid claims by Davao City government officials that it has been defunded and halted for political reasons.
“It’s the City government of Davao and the Department of Transportation that are in close coordination. We can only proceed to issue franchises once the buses are operational in the city,” Panigon said.
According to LTFRB, the PUVMP is the “government’s response to address both the aggravating transport related problems and the future transportation demand of the country.” (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
