As deadline looms, jeepney drivers must consolidate or retrain for another job (www.rappler.com)

submitted 11 months ago by decadentrebel@lemmy.world to c/philippines@lemmy.world

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For drivers and operators who may lose their livelihood by the end of the year, the government plans to hold training sessions to help them find another job.

“One of the options is they will be trained by DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) through TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) so they can find alternative jobs. The next steps will be they will be given jobs by DOLE after their training from TESDA. That will be the mode of exit,” Martinez told the lower house of Congress.

It is, however, unclear where the government will get funds to continue these support programs in the long run. Under the DOTr’s proposed 2024 budget, there was no budget at all allocated for the modernization program.

The DOTr also admitted that it was quite literally running out of personnel to implement the Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) Modernization Program, with more than half of their personnel involved in the program now having their contracts terminated.

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[-] decadentrebel@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

The government has been trying to phase out jeepneys for many years now because of "ThE eNviRoNmEnT" but isn't actually doing anything realistic to help them with the transition. The new jeeps cost about 2.8 million pesos ($50k) and it's literally impossible for a driver to pay for that with their earnings.

Jeepney drivers combat this move by staging protests and threatening to not go on trips for days to a week, and the government gets cold feet and postpones the plan. The government then revisits this months later without a better solution and the drivers obviously would be still against it, and the cycle continues.

The next "we're serious!" date is December this year, and drivers that couldn't afford it, will be trained for other jobs instead... but how they're going to do that is a mystery because they don't have the budget for trainings or even the personnel.

This is just a quick Cliff's Notes. There are other factors in play like drivers being forced to sign with co-ops that would shoulder the payment for the new jeeps for now and the driver pays through them. BUT there's also an option for you to keep your rickety jalopy jeep just as long as you sign with a co-op, which is weird because isn't the point of the phase out to get rid of old jeeps? Hence, the whole argument that this is just ultimately capitalism preying on the poor.

[-] M500@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago

Thanks for explaining this. I’m a foreigner living her and do not keep up with the local news.

I have seen some of the new ones around. I think they are electric. I also saw one of the new ones towing another one 😂

They do look nicer and seem to have more space, but I’ve not been on one yet. I never learned how to navigate via jeepney😅

[-] decadentrebel@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I rode EV jeepneys back in 2018 daily while I was still working a desk job. While they're certainly more environment-friendly, convenient (I can finally put my Beep card to good use), and retained the aesthetics of traditional jeep (contrary to the incorrect criticism that the look is going extinct), it's actually quite nightmarish as a commuter during rush hours.

Since drivers still generate profit by hitting their "boundary," the age-old problem of jeepneys stuffing their vehicles more than the ideal capacity is still rampant. This is twice as problematic with e-jeeps because windows are kept closed due to the AC. So, it's tight and there's little to no airflow. To make things worse, drivers also try to save fuel by turning the AC low.

Basically, if the government wants jeepney drivers to roll with modernization, they need to address the elephant in the room, and that's their daily wage. They're not going to upgrade their jeep unless the financing options make sense. They're not going to agree to a fixed salary (another part of the modernization program) because they make way more money with the current system that incentivizes ferrying more passengers. Government never addresses any of these issues and just trots around the same old "ThE enVirOnMeNt" talking point that other Filipinos parrot, as if they enjoy driving a smoke-belching, gas-guzzling heavy steel tank.