Jeepney drivers and operators set up banners as they hold a transport strike along the Roxas Boulevard Service Road near the corner of EDSA in Pasay on April 29, 2024. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News 

MANILA – Transport group Piston said Friday it would hold another strike from September 23 to 24 to oppose the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP).

Piston said the strike would involve the transport group Manibela and make the following demands. 

• Junking of the PTMP
• Cancellation of forced franchise consolidation
• Renewal of franchises and registrations for all public utility vehicle (PUV) operators, including those who choose not to consolidate
• Zero budget for PUV phaseout programs, with funding redirected towards the rehabilitation of traditional jeepneys and subsidies for local industries
• Allowing those who entered franchise consolidation to withdraw

Budget chief: Jeepney modernization not on DOTr’s 2025 priority list

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in August rejected the call of 22 senators to suspend the program due to supposedly insufficient information drive on the PTMP and the financial burden on drivers and operators to procure modern jeepneys. 

"I disagree with them because sinasabi nila minadali. This has been postponed seven times, the modernization has been postponed for seven times," Marcos previously said. 

He added that around 80 percent of operators have complied with the PTMP’s requirement to consolidate into cooperatives for easier processing of bank loans to buy modern jeeps.

DOTr says with 83% consolidation rate, no need to suspend PUV modernization program

The government launched the PUV modernization program in 2017. There have been multiple delays in its implementation due to protests and COVID-19.

Drivers opposed to the plan argue that buying a new vehicle will bury them in debt and they will not be able to earn enough money to repay their loans and make a living.

Financing will make or break PUV modernization, says senator

While jeepneys now vie with buses, vans and motorbikes for passengers, they are still a common sight and sound in the country.

Often brightly painted and with an exhaust that sounds like a trumpet, jeepneys cost passengers as little as P13 to ride and their second-hand diesel truck engines are easy to fix.

The modern mini-buses the government would like to replace them with are more high-tech, with European emission standard engines or electric motors, WiFi, CCTV and air-conditioning.

End of the road? Philippine jeepneys face uncertain future

– With a report from Agence France-Presse