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"Based on the December 2022 Labor Force Survey, the unemployment rate went up to 4.3% in December from 4.2% in November. The December figure translates to 2.22 million jobless Filipinos, slightly more than the 2.18 million in November or roughly 43,000 more people unemployed, the PSA said." (as cited in Rivas, 2023)

Rivas, R. (2023, Feb. 8) Job quality improves, but unemployment slightly up in December 2022. Rappler. https://www.rappler.com/business/philippines-unemployment-rate-december-2022/

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Underemployment rate goes down to 12.6%, but unemployment is slightly up to 4.3%

MANILA, Philippines - The quality of jobs in the Philippines marginally improved amid the holiday rush, but the country's unemployment rate increased slightly in December from the previous month, latest figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

Based on the December 2022 Labor Force Survey, the unemployment rate went up to 4.3% in December from 4.2% in November. The December figure translates to 2.22 million jobless Filipinos, slightly more than the 2.18 million in November or roughly 43,000 more people unemployed, the PSA said.

On the plus side, the Philippines' underemployment rate in December 2022 slid to 12.6% from 14.4% in November. The latest figure is also lower than the 14.7% posted in December 2021.

This translates to about 6.2 million employed Filipinos in December 2022 who expressed the desire to have additional work hours or have a job with longer hours. The figure is lower than the 7.16 million last November and 6.81 million in December 2021.

However, compared to a year ago, unemployment fell to 4.3% in December 2022 from 6.6%, which translates to 1.1 million fewer unemployed compared to December 2021.

In a statement, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) attributed this to the economy's reopening following prolonged restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"As the economy further reopened, 1.7 million more Filipinos joined the labor force, raising the labor force participation rate to 66.4 percent from 65.1 percent in the previous year. The corresponding expansion in the services and industry sectors resulted in an additional 2.7 million employed persons year-on-year, bringing total employment to 49.0 million Filipinos," the NEDA said after the release of the latest Labor Force Survey.

"Top employment contributors in December 2022 include wholesale and retail trade, other service activities, and accommodation and food service activities, which were boosted by the full resumption of commercial activities, pent-up demand, and holiday spending. However, these were tempered by losses in agriculture due to weather disturbances and the spread of infectious diseases among livestock and poultry," the country's economic planning agency said.

Average weekly hours in December increased to 40.3 from 39.3 and 39.7 hours in November 2022 and December 2021, respectively.

The services sector continued to lead all sectors having the highest share of employed persons, with 58.9% of the total employed persons in December. Agriculture and industry accounted for 24% and 17.1%, respectively. - Rappler.com

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Job quality improves, but unemployment slightly up in December 2022

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Underemployment rate goes down to 12.6%, but unemployment is slightly up to 4.3% MANILA, Philippines - The quality of jobs in the Philippines marginally improved amid the holiday rush, but the country's unemployment rate increased slightly in December from the previous month, latest figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

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"In the face of a global plastic waste problem, it is a significant contribution. Yet waste workers in the Philippines – many of them women – are extremely undervalued and generally absent in solid waste management plans. Women waste pickers like Santoyo are even twice as vulnerable, burdened with uneven domestic responsibilities and fewer access to economic opportunities that could lift them out of poverty." (As cited in Enano, 2022)

Ehano, J. (2022, Sep 30) In informal waste work, women are twice as vulnerable, invisible. Rappler. https://www.rappler.com/environment/informal-waste-work-women-twice-vulnerable-invisible/

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MANILA, Philippines - Even before the crack of dawn, the day's work already begins for Riza Santoyo, as she pedals a bicycle with a light blue metal cart along relatively empty roads in Quezon City.

To save time, the 34-year-old mother brings her four young children along her usual route. She would drop off her two older girls, aged 12 and 10, at school, and watch over her 6-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son while working.

Along Timog Avenue, she spots trash bags by the roadside and immediately goes to work. The bags are often filled with mixed wastes, but she expertly digs in and collects those with value: discarded plastic bottles, empty aluminum cans, cardboard, paper, and some electronics and metal scrap.

She loads them next to her kids in the cart and moves on to the next bags. She has to work swiftly, before the city's garbage trucks arrive and haul what could be her earnings for the day.

Santoyo is one of thousands of Filipinos whose lives are intricately tied with others' refuse. Whether collecting from the streets or scavenging in landfills, waste pickers sort and recover valuable scrap, such as recyclable plastics, and sell them to junk dealers for a living. As a result, these materials are returned to the loop instead of overcrowding landfills or, worse, leaking into soils and waterways.

In the face of a global plastic waste problem, it is a significant contribution. Yet waste workers in the Philippines - many of them women - are extremely undervalued and generally absent in solid waste management plans. Women waste pickers like Santoyo are even twice as vulnerable, burdened with uneven domestic responsibilities and fewer access to economic opportunities that could lift them out of poverty.

ON THE STREETS. Riza Santoyo, 34, makes a living from collecting, sorting, and selling recyclables, such as plastic bottles and aluminum cans. She roams the streets of Quezon City and also collects wastes from her neighbors. Photo by Jhesset O. Enano

Enormous role

While exact regional and national figures are elusive, it is estimated that there are 20 million waste pickers around the world, including women and children. In countries with flawed solid waste management systems, the task of collecting, sorting, and diverting recyclables from dumps often falls on their shoulders.

Their work exposes them to serious risks, such as injuries, toxic chemicals, and diseases from handling wastes, yet they earn very little and remain at the bottom of the recycling chain.

In July 2000, more than 200 waste pickers died after a towering heap of garbage in the Payatas dumpsite in Quezon City collapsed and then burst into flames. The tragedy was seen as a catalyst for the passage of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act or Republic Act (RA) No. 9003, which prohibited open dumps and laid down rules and regulations on proper segregation, collection, treatment, and disposal of solid waste.

More than two decades later, the implementation of the law leaves much to be desired. Among its main provisions is the mandatory waste segregation at source, but lax and inconsistent efforts by local governments have led to growing volumes of mixed wastes still ending up in landfills and illegal dumps over the years.

This is the gap that informal waste pickers fill, said Sonia Dias, a sociologist and waste expert from Brazil, who works with the global network Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).

"They are the backbone of solid waste management in terms of the service they provide to cities, but also for the industry at the value chain," she said. Without their work, the recycling industry will not have the materials they need for manufacturing, she added.

Local governments also spend millions of pesos for garbage collection, transport, and disposal. By segregating wastes and recovering recyclables, waste pickers are essentially "subsidizing" governments with their unpaid service, Dias said.

Outside the margins

The National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) itself underscored how the informal waste sector was "left out" in the solid waste management law.

In its implementing rules and regulations, RA 9003 prohibits "unauthorized removal of recyclable material intended for collection by authorized persons," making waste recovery by the informal sector an illegal practice.

A national framework plan crafted by the NSWMC for informal waste workers in 2008 recommended better support and access for waste reclaimers, as well as the improvement of their work and living conditions. While some local governments have made efforts to formalize waste pickers in their solid waste management plans, many continue to operate on or outside the margins.

CASH IN. After a full day of recovering recyclables across Quezon City, waste worker Riza Santoyo sells them for a few hundred pesos at a nearby junkshop. Photo by Jhesset O. Enano

After collecting materials across the city all morning, Santoyo stations herself at a sidewalk along NIA Road, across the stretch of slum houses where her family lives.

Other waste pickers living in Barangay Pinyahan are there, too. Their metal carts brim with sacks of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, soft drink cans, and cardboard. There, they would spend the next few hours further sorting and "cleaning" what they had collected - which could increase price per kilogram - before selling them to a nearby junk shop.

The process involves deftly cutting and removing plastic labels from PET bottles. Bottle caps, which are made of a harder type of plastic called high density polyethylene (HDPE), are also removed and placed with other HDPE products such as bottles of shampoo and liquid detergent. Cans of soft drinks are crushed under their feet.

Waste pickers often work without gloves, boots, or any protective gear. With many households and businesses still not practicing segregation at source, they would often have to rummage through rotting food, used diapers, and torn-up sachets to collect recyclables. They would sometimes get injured from shards of broken glass and discarded needles mixed with the rest of the garbage.

On a good day, Santoyo earns at least P300 (roughly $5); on other days, less than P100 (roughly $2). One particular day, she received P330 from the junk dealer in exchange for nearly 60 kilos of bottles and cans. She would have to divide the day's earnings for the family's meals and other needs, as well as school supplies for her kids.

She has done this work for more than half her life, when she started helping her father at 15 years old. She had taken odd jobs since, but returned to waste picking in 2009 after her husband was laid off from his work at a construction site.

Then, in 2020, COVID-19 struck, and she was forced to stop collecting. Out of work, she found herself begging on the streets. She was taken in by authorities twice.

"I see my children crying out of hunger, so what am I to do?" she said. "They wouldn't allow us back to the streets to work."

Women left behind

Santoyo returned to waste picking when quarantine measures were relaxed in 2021. Her husband also found work as a tricycle driver.

It's a story shared by many women waste workers. While their husbands can take on other jobs, women either are left behind to work with waste, just choosing to do so. The flexible hours allow them to still look after the children and manage the household while bringing additional money in for their families' needs.

Even in waste work, women are at a disadvantage.

"Usually, men are the ones tapped for opportunities in formal waste work," said Anj Aguilos of EcoWaste Coalition. Research by the coalition showed unequal opportunities between men and women waste workers, with women having less access to skills, training, and capital to earn more from working with waste.

Men can also be employed by local governments as garbage truck drivers and haulers. Women, on the other hand, can sometimes be hired as street sweepers, but regular jobs come few and far between.

"What we see is this kind of scenario in which women are faced with overlapping vulnerabilities: the vulnerability of being a waste picker and because they are women," Dias said. "If waste is invisible work, and waste pickers even more so, the connections between gender and waste has always been invisible."

Since young children are often with their working mothers, they eventually learn the trade themselves. Santoyo's 10-year-old daughter Kat* accompanies her on most days and helps in preparing the recyclables to be sold to the junk shop.

But the mother is determined not to let her children follow in her and their grandparents' footsteps. She recalled how she almost lost Kat to a worm infection when her daughter was two months old.

"The doctors told me that I most likely got it from garbage, that I could have passed it on to her while I was breastfeeding," she said.

Exposure to dangers

Despite goals of waste avoidance and volume reduction under the solid waste management law, the Philippines continues to produce an ever-growing volume of garbage.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources projected that the country would produce 23.61 million metric tons of waste by 2025 - equivalent to over 3,000 garbage dump trucks per day. The bulk is expected to come from Metro Manila and Calabarzon.

Today, most of the trash produced and collected in Metro Manila ends up in a sanitary landfill in Rodriguez (commonly known as Montalban) town in Rizal province, around an hour from the metro. Living near the facility is a community of about 1,000 families that have no access to electricity and water, and rely on whatever they can scavenge from the landfill to survive.

MOUND OF TRASH. Informal waste workers in Rodriguez, Rizal province work under intense conditions to scavenge and recover recyclables and other scrap from the sanitary landfill. This facility is the final garbage disposal site for most Metro Manila cities. Photo by Jhesset O. Enano

Waste pickers there would spend hours hunched over, working under intense heat both from the sun and methane from the mounds of trash. It's a dangerous game of steering clear of huge dump trucks and bulldozers while scavenging, often competing with each other for the most valuable scrap.

Aside from plastics and metal scrap, they also retrieve discarded food that can be "recycled" into " pagpag," referring to leftovers that are "dusted off" to be eaten.

Those working in landfills face the same dangers as the itinerant collectors on the streets, but are more exposed to toxic cocktails of chemicals and gases from the trash heap.

Studies have shown that exposure to landfills and dumpsites can harm human health and cause a slew of illnesses, from skin diseases to respiratory and gastrointestinal problems. Plastics can break down into microplastics and leach hazardous chemicals into the environment, which can affect fertility and reproductive functions, among others.

Elisa Jatulan knows this danger well. In 2020, she lost her three-month-old baby due to complications after she continued to work at the landfill even when she was already six months into her pregnancy.

"The baby had complications because of our scavenging work. The smell is just too much. Chemicals are just being dumped there," said the 37-year-old mother.

"I have thought of stopping," she said, "but I have no choice. This is our only means to live."

Other women waste pickers in this landfill have made the same tough choice. Lolita Pamintuan, 54, was still scavenging and hauling scraps at the dump even when she was already at full term of her pregnancy.

"I was picking wastes when I started going into labor, so my husband and I simply went home," she recalled.

A month after giving birth, Pamintuan returned to work at the landfill.

BUSY HANDS. After recovering PET bottles from the sanitary landfill, waste workers like Lolita Pamintuan, 54, spend hours removing labels from each bottle before they can be sold to a junk dealer. Photo by Jhesset O. Enano

Chance for recognition

Given their contribution as an invisible yet crucial workforce, informal waste workers should be recognized as part of the country's solid waste management system, said Marian Ledesma, Greenpeace Philippines campaigner.

"The people don't realize that they are right there in the middle of the value chain, and without them, so many parts of the system will also be affected," she said.

There are glimmers of hope. Last March, representatives of 175 countries, including the Philippines, endorsed a landmark resolution at the UN Environment Assembly to address the full cycle of plastics and craft an international legally binding agreement by the end of 2024 to end plastic pollution.

For the first time, informal waste workers were recognized for their "significant contribution" in the collecting, sorting, and recycling of plastics.

In the Philippines, an opportunity for a similar recognition and formalization could be in the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act, which lapsed into law last July, said Ledesma.

The EPR law amends the current policy on solid waste management, requiring large companies to recover the plastic packaging wastes they produce.

"It would be good for the NSWMC to find ways to have the producer responsibility organizations connect with waste pickers," she said. "If they were part of the formal system or at least were being recognized, they would have an assurance that they can still have access to the waste."

"They could help in that one step before sending wastes to material recovery facilities, or even work in the MRFs themselves," Ledesma added.

Uplifting the lives of informal waste workers, however, will not rest on improved policies on solid waste management alone, but also on structural changes, such as better access to education, said WIEGO's Dias.

"Poverty breeds itself because we are not tackling the structural problems in our society," she said. "For each waste picker that may be benefited by policies, there are hundreds of new ones entering the field. So, it's like this kind of vicious circle."

Whether meaningful change will come soon for informal waste workers remains to be seen. For Santoyo and other women waste pickers, the work continues, not for them, but for their children.

"I'm working hard because I want them to get a proper education," Santoyo said. "I don't want them to inherit this work." - Rappler.com
*Name has been changed for privacy All quotes in Filipino have been translated to English. Reporting for this story was supported by the Internews' Earth Journalism Network.

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In informal waste work, women are twice as vulnerable, invisible

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MANILA, Philippines - Even before the crack of dawn, the day's work already begins for Riza Santoyo, as she pedals a bicycle with a light blue metal cart along relatively empty roads in Quezon City. To save time, the 34-year-old mother brings her four young children along her usual route.

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National Economic and Development Authority. (2015). Unemployment rate drops to new record low in 10 years [Infographic]. neda.gov.ph. https://neda.gov.ph/infographic-unemployment-rate-drops-to-new-record-low-in-10-years/

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"'Filipino women are among the most educated in the ASEAN region, but they experience one of the lowest labor force participation rates. [C]onfounding their situation is the prevalence of sexual harassment and discrimination at the workplace,' said Gabriella secretary general Clarice Palce." (as cited in Serquina, 2022)

Serquiña, M.C. (2022, November 30). Groups call for better working conditions, implementation of labor laws on Bonifacio Day. CNN Philippines. http://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2022/11/30/labor-group-protest-bonifacio-day.html

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 30) - Multi-sectoral groups staged a protest rally on Wednesday to demand better implementation of labor rights and safer working conditions, as the country marked the 159th birth anniversary of national hero Andres Bonifacio.

The Alliance of Health Workers stressed that medical workers have yet to receive their back pay and emergency allowance that were promised in 2020.

READ: DOH: DBM releases additional ₱11.5 billion for health workers' benefits

According to the health group, medical workers still experienced poor labor conditions, working 16-24 hours amid the drop in COVID-19 cases in the country.

They also called for the appointment of a new health secretary.

Labor groups Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and BayanMuna Partylist, along with other sectors represented at the rally, pressed for wage hikes and cutbacks on commodity prices.

House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Representative France Castro urged the government to "make concrete steps to lower prices of basic goods" amid worsening inflation.

READ: BSP: 2022 inflation peaks either November or December, average to hit 7.8%

"We urge the Marcos Jr. administration to prioritize the lives and livelihood of the Filipino people by heeding their calls for decent salaries and wages," Castro said in a statement.

READ: Only ₱4.85 added to daily minimum wage since 2018, teachers group says

With some coming from the Department of Labor and Employment office in Intramuros, the multi-sectoral groups gathered in Plaza Miranda, Quiapo and headed toward Liwasang Bonifiacio in Lawton and then in Mendiola, Manila for the protest rally.
Better, safe working environment
In a statement, women's group Gabriela pushed for a safe workspace for women from sexual harassment and discrimination.

"Filipino women are among the most educated in the ASEAN region, but they experience one of the lowest labor force participation rates. [C]onfounding their situation is the prevalence of sexual harassment and discrimination at the workplace," said Gabriella secretary general Clarice Palce.

Citing the case of missing Gabriela member Elizabeth Magbuan, the women's group also called for respect of the rights of workers to free association.

READ: SC asked to issue protection order for missing labor organizers

Gabriela said the abduction in May of Magbuan by suspected military officers is not only "a horrific form of violence committed by the state against working women" but also a "serious blight on the rights of workers to self-organization."

The Department of National Defense (DND) earlier said that it has directed the military to investigate the disappearance of Magbanua and another activist and to comply with the writ of amparo issued by the Court of Appeals.

Members of the Federation of Small Fisherfolk Organization in the Philippines (PAMALAKAYA) also joined the protest, calling for "national sovereignty and exclusive rights of small fisherfolks" in the West Philippine Sea.

In a statement, the Department of Budget and Management said the Marcos administration will continue to implement its "eight-point socioeconomic agenda" in response to the present "society ills" in the country.

READ: Marcos administration unveils socioeconomic agenda

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Groups call for better working conditions, implementation of labor laws on Bonifacio Day

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 30) - Multi-sectoral groups staged a protest rally on Wednesday to demand better implementation of labor rights and safer working conditions, as the country marked the 159th birth anniversary of national hero Andres Bonifacio.

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ELI, Inc. (2020). Sexual harassment in the workplace: What you need to know [Infographic]. Eliinc.com. https://www.eliinc.com/sexual-harassment-in-workplace-infographic/

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GAIA Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. (2020, August 20). Voices of Resilience: Waste Pickers in the Philippines [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz2_Gtt9ghw&ab_channel=GAIAGlobalAllianceforIncineratorAlternatives

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GAIA Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives

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Voices of Resilience: Waste pickers in the Philippines

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Philippine women workers march to call for end of ‘contractualization’ of labor

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"“Not only has it denied workers of their right to security of tenure, decent wages, and benefits that the labor movement has won through blood and sweat, the scheme has also kept them from forming and joining unions—leaving workers unable to bargain for their welfare and capitalists free to squeeze workers of all they’re worth,” said Palce of Gabriela." (as cited in "Philippine women workers," 2023)

Philippine women workers march to call for end of ‘contractualization’ of labor. (2023, March 3). LiCASnews. Retrieved from https://www.licas.news/2023/03/03/philippine-women-workers-march-to-call-for-end-of-contractualizatin-of-labor/

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Itumay, A. (2018, May 4). Editoryal: Mga gov’t employees apil ba sab sa Endo? [Cartoon]. SunStar. https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1741582/superbalita-cebu/opinyon/editoryal-mga-govt-employees-apil-ba-sab-sa-endo

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"Ricardo Rebaño, president of the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, pointed out that operators would need to pay a monthly amortization of P475,000 to operate 15 modern vehicles. As stressed by Mody Floranda, mandating operators to consolidate their individual franchises under a cooperative or corporation is 'wrong, deceitful, and coercive' as it deprives operators of their rights and privileges as individual franchise holders. He said 'only big corporations with single consolidated franchises have the financial capacity to purchase and fully comply with the current PUVMP schemes.'" (as cited in Dela Peña, 2023)

Dela Peña, K. (2023, Mar. 3) Jeepney phaseout: It's more than just new vehicles. Philippine Daily Inquirer.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1738024/jeepney-phaseout-its-more-than-just-new-vehicles

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MANILA, Philippines-The validity of provisional authorities (PAs), which allows individual operators to ply traditional jeepneys, has been extended again but transport group Manibela vowed to proceed with its week-long strike from March 6 to 12.

Mar Valbuena, national president of Manibela, told INQUIRER.net that the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) did not heed any of the group's calls.

"We will proceed with the strike. What the LTFRB released is just an extension of our agony since it did not contain any of the provisions we have been asking them to include," he said.

It was on Feb. 27 when transport groups, like Manibela and Piston, decided to stage a week-long strike to protest the "phaseout" of traditional jeepneys and convince the LTFRB to shelve the implementation of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).

As stressed by Piston national president Mody Floranda, "drivers and small operators are ready to protect their livelihood because the lives of their families are at stake, especially at a time of intense economic crisis."

But on March 2, the LTFRB said it decided to extend the validity of the PAs, or franchises, of traditional jeepneys from June 30 to Dec. 31 to give individual operators "more time" to consolidate into corporations or cooperatives.

This, as based on the Department of Transportation's (DOTr) Omnibus Franchising Guidelines, only individual operators, who are able to join an existing consolidated entity on or before the deadline, shall be allowed to have their PA extended.

The LTFRB, however, stressed that the decision to extend the validity of PAs was not brought by pressure from the planned strike, which Manibela said was expected to be backed by close to 100,000 drivers and operators all over the Philippines.

Based on data from Manibela, out of the 100,000 drivers and operators, 40,000 are in Metro Manila. So as a result, millions of commuters will be affected, Elvira Medina, chairperson of the National Center for Commuters Safety and Protection, said.

She told CNN Philippines that 8 million commuters in Metro Manila alone will directly feel the impact of the week-long strike. Local executives in the region already directed the deployment of all available vehicles to provide commuters with free rides.

'Modernization' hits hard

Looking back, it was in 2017 when the government launched its biggest non-infrastructure program through DOTr Department Order No. 2017-011, or the PUVMP.

This, as the DOTr said it shall reduce reliance on private vehicle use and move toward environmentally-sound mobility solutions, and shall develop and promote high quality public transportation systems.

As stressed by retired University of the Philippines Los Baños professor Teodoro Mendoza, who wrote a paper on addressing the "blind sides" of the PUVMP, the program seeks to replace old PUVs, including jeepneys, with modern ones.

Mendoza's "Addressing the 'blind side' of the government's jeepney 'modernization' program" was published by the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies' Program for Alternative Development.

"Modern PUVs," he said are more environment-friendly and fuel-efficient to provide Filipinos with safer, comfortable, and reliable public transportation, while also mitigating the "hazards" of "inefficient and smoke-belching PUVs.

"However, this 'solution' to road safety and climate change is seen as a problem by its stakeholders, given the divergent realities in the backdrop of the program and the import-dependent nature of the said 'modernization'," he said.

Floranda told INQUIRER.net that drivers are not totally against the PUVMP, stressing that "what we are opposed to is the way the government is implementing the program, where big businesses, especially those overseas, are advantaged."

Even the Senate expressed concern over the implementation of the program, saying in a resolution passed this week that the LTFRB should first address problems confronting the PUVMP.

"The LTFRB should not coerce PUV operators into complying with their guidelines without addressing the sector's concerns, particularly on the high capital costs of acquiring modern jeeps," said the Senate resolution.

Too expensive

As stressed by Mendoza in his 2021 paper on jeepney modernization, the PUVMP has two main "blind sides"-the high cost per unit of modern jeepneys and the possible fare hike to cover the cost.

He said based on data, modern vehicles that operate through electricity or more environment-friendly fuel are "expensive" at P2.4 to P2.6 million each in 2020, which meant an increase in capital outlay for operators of P1.4 million to P1.6 million.

Piston earlier said this was way too expensive compared to a traditional jeepney, which only costs P200,000 to P600,000. As Floranda said, if the government does not want the traditional ones, it should at least let individual operators "rehabilitate" their units.

This way, "modernizing won't be too expensive," he said, explaining that in one instance, an individual operator who rehabilitated his jeepney in accordance with the DOTr's Omnibus Franchising Guidelines, only spent P900,000.

Based on the DOTr guidelines, a modern jeepney should be less than 7 meters in length with door locations allowing boarding and alighting only from the curbside, not from the rear.

It should likewise have a GNSS receiver, free Wi-Fi, CCTV with continuous recording of past 72 hours of operations, automatic fare collection system for PUJs and UV Express within highly urbanized independent cities.

The modern jeepney is "appropriate as feeder services operating in arterial, collector, and local roads, linking neighborhoods and communities to mass transit lines and bus routes, and traversing commercial, industrial, recreational, or residential areas."

Modern vehicles, like the minibus, meanwhile should either be non-air conditioned, air conditioned, loop, shuttle, and/or express with fare collection that is based on distance and/or zone.

The DOTr stated that a minibus should be single deck with no wooden components and is 7 to 9 meters in length and should have a mini coach with emergency exit, tempered glass windows.

The guidelines provided that for urban routes, the minibus should be low entry for quick boarding and alighting, and with space for at least one passenger with wheelchair and foldable or retractable wheelchair ramp at the curbside.

A minibus operates along major arterial roads, highways, expressways and identified collector roads, and are "appropriate for corridors where demand may be sufficient for operation or larger-sized buses."

Almost impossible

As Floranda stressed, "who would not want a more efficient and comfortable vehicle?"

The problem, however, is that acquiring a new unit, which costs P2.4 to P2.6 million each, is almost impossible for drivers and small operators who only rely on everyday operation to recoup expenses.

Floranda said a driver who is on a "boundary" agreement with an individual operator only brings home an average of P500 from over 12 hours of plying highly congested roads.

He explained that the P500 is from the P2,500 to P3,000 daily gross income of the small operator. Expenses for fuel and maintenance will also be deducted from the gross income.

"This is the reason that we are calling for rehabilitation as a way to 'modernize' instead," Floranda said, stressing that rehabilitation will also strengthen the local industry, which in turn is expected to provide more jobs.

Dindo Rosales, a representative of the Alyansa Kontra PUV Phaseout, said "we are against this deadly modernization program that promotes loans," pointing out that drivers don't want themselves to be buried in debt.

As explained by Mendoza, to address the high cost of modern PUVs, the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines had each designed a loan facility for the program.

'No to consolidation'

One more reason for the opposition to the PUVMP is "Industry Consolidation," which aims to "put together the fragmented transport industry by encouraging single operators and drivers to come together as one legal entity."

Based on the DOTr's Omnibus Franchising Guidelines, only corporations or cooperatives with at least 15 vehicles would be allowed to apply for new franchises, restricting small-capacity vehicles on main roads.

However, some small operators are protesting, stressing their concern that they do not have enough resources to complete the requirement of 15 units.

Ricardo Rebaño, president of the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, pointed out that operators would need to pay a monthly amortization of P475,000 to operate 15 modern vehicles.

As stressed by Floranda, mandating operators to consolidate their individual franchises under a cooperative or corporation is "wrong, deceitful, and coercive" as it deprives operators of their rights and privileges as individual franchise holders.

He said "only big corporations with single consolidated franchises have the financial capacity to purchase and fully comply with the current PUVMP schemes."

It was explained by Floranda that once you consolidate your franchise under a cooperative or corporation, you surrender your right to have an individual franchise: "Once you fail to shoulder the weight of expensive modernization, you have nothing to go back to."

"What happens to the consolidated franchise of your cooperative? It will be bid out by the LTFRB to large corporations who have the capacity to pay for imported minibuses promoted by the government," he said.

With the new deadline set on Dec. 31, individual operators have 10 months to consolidate.

As Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said, "the phaseout will happen in areas where the modernization program is almost already implemented in full."

"But in areas where we think that we know it's hard to get new equipment right away, we will give operators a chance to join cooperatives to consolidate so that they get the help they need to get new equipment," he said.

Bautista assured operators that "no phaseouts will happen yet in areas where new units still cannot realistically operate."

Some 61 percent, or 96,380 of the 158,000 target jeepneys nationwide, have complied with the consolidation requirements of the public utility vehicle (PUV) modernization program, the LTFRB said.

Joel Bolano, LTFRB technical division chief, said across the Philippines, there are already more than 5,300 units of modernized jeepneys operating.

Gov't will help

"We are willing to bend backward, suggesting to the board of LTFRB to relax the requirements to enable drivers to [adapt] to the program," Bautista said.

He said "we even offered to dialogue with drivers associations displeased with the PUVMP to explore how they can be accommodated into the program."

Bautista, however, did not specify which requirements he was referring to, but the LTFRB told INQUIRER.net that this is the same order that moved the LTFRB to extend the deadline until Dec. 31.

Mendoza explained that there are two numeric aspects of the PUVMP that must be considered to complete the program, assuming that there is no more opposition from the drivers and operators.

"These are the speed of local assembly of the modern jeepneys and financing for the jeepney units," he said.

"With the very slow rate of local assembly of modern jeepneys (at only 1,000 units per year), it will take 70 years before all the traditional jeepneys in Metro Manila will be replaced with modern jeepneys," he said.

Then for all traditional jeepneys in the Philippines to be replaced, it will take 270 years, even if there is no more opposition from drivers and operators.

A large amount is also needed for the program, he said.

For Metro Manila alone, about P11.68 billion is needed for the 73,000 traditional jeepneys to be replaced. To replace 300,000 traditional jeepneys nationwide, financing will amount from P540 billion to P750 billion.

"Given this, will government banks have sufficient money to fund this enormous project of the government and will these banks provide loans to new cooperatives that are yet to have a track record in managing huge amounts of loans? The expensive modern jeepney seems to present an insurmountable problem rather than a solution," he said.

"Achieving the goals of jeepney modernization requires a considerable amount of resources (e.g., funding and infrastructure) and suitable management (e.g., cooperative-led or private-led fleet management)," he said.

TSB

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Jeepney phaseout: It's more than just new vehicles

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MANILA, Philippines-The validity of provisional authorities (PAs), which allows individual operators to ply traditional jeepneys, has been extended again but transport group Manibela vowed to proceed with its week-long strike from March 6 to 12. Mar Valbuena, national president of Manibela, told INQUIRER.net that the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) did not heed any of the group's calls.

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Philstar News. (2023, March 6). Anong problema sa jeepney modernization program? [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/2WHHZIFtESY

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Anong problema sa jeepney modernization program?