The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has denied the claims of a vice presidential candidate that there is corruption in its public utility vehicles (PUV) modernization program (PUVMP).
In a statement Monday, the DOTr said vice presidential candidate Walden Bello’s statement during a debate Sunday “reflects utter ignorance” about the PUVMP—the Duterte administration’s largest non-infrastructure project that seeks to modernize both PUVs and the system of public transportation.
Bello claimed that the PUV modernization in Davao City has been consolidated into three bus companies and alleged corruption issues in the Davao City Coastal Road project.
In response to Bello’s allegations, the DOTr said there are 1,659 transport corporations and cooperatives operating nationwide as of March 4.
For public utility buses alone, it said there are 131 consolidated operators.
“We categorically deny Mr. Walden Bello’s accusations of corruption in the PUVMP. It is also not true that the whole PUV system has been consolidated into three bus companies,” the DOTr said.
The consolidation of PUV operators into transport companies and cooperatives, it said, is meant to address the “culture of on-street competition between and among bus operators and drivers.”
“PUVs are to run routes in an efficient, dependable, and systematic manner for the benefit of commuters, and not to compete against each other,” the DOTr said.
The PUVMP also allows local government units (LGU) to create route rationalization studies to allow for a more seamless inter-connectivity between routes and other modes of transport.
Instead of a “boundary” system where the income of PUV drivers depends entirely on how many passengers they can serve, the new transport service cooperatives and corporations of the PUVMP would instead pay their drivers with a salary, provide benefits, and “assured security of tenure.”
As part of the PUVMP, PUV transport companies and cooperatives are offered “reasonable financing with favorable terms” to help modernize their PUVs.
“[The Landbank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines] provide loans to cover 95% of the acquisition cost of the vehicle, with the remaining 5% fully subsidized by the government,” the DOTr said.
The loans are to be paid in seven years, with a grace period of six months, and under a fixed interest rate of 6 percent per annum.
The agency also cited social support programs under the PUVMP that provide displaced transport workers with skills training to reenter the public transportation industry or to enroll in different livelihood and enterprise-related training.
Source: The Philippines News Agency
