Clark, Pampanga --- Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade today clarified that the

Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) of the Duterte Administration is

not anti-poor as claimed by some transport groups.
 
Contrary to claims of some groups that the program will eventually put PUVs out of
business, particularly jeepneys, Tugade stressed that the PUVMP will help improve and
strengthen the public road transport sector.
 
“Nililiwanag ko lang ho na yung programang modernization of public utility is not anti-
poor; it is not designed to phase out the jeepneys or the jeepney business. It is actually
designed to strengthen and guarantee the profitability of the jeepney business,” Tugade
said during his speech after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
between the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Development Bank of the
Philippines (DBP) at the DOTr building in Clark, Pampanga.
 
The MOU signing coincided with the official launch of the DBP’s Support Alternative
Driving Approaches (PASADA) Program. 
 
The transportation chief said the DOTr, together with the Land Transportation
Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Land Transportation Office (LTO), and the
Metro Manila Development Authority, are finding ways to improve public road transport
system and facilities through the PUVMP.
 
“Gumagawa tayo ng pamamaraan na kung saan yung jeepney ay magiging compliant
sa mga specification na gusto natin sa program upang ang paghahanap-buhay ay
kakambalan natin ng responsibilidad sa kapaligiran. Maghanap-buhay ka pero ‘wag
mong patayin ‘yung environment. Maghanap-buhay ka pero pangalagaan mo ang
henerasyon na darating,” Tugade said.
 
Under the PUVMP, Tugade said transport cooperatives and corporations can avail of
financial assistance, on top of a government subsidy, to upgrade their fleet with low-
carbon emission, safe and efficient units.
 
DBP Chairman Alberto Romulo said that the DBP developed the PASADA Program,
which will offer responsive and reasonable financing for transport corporations and
cooperatives to allow them to acquire new and passenger safe PUVs.
 
“The PASADA program that we now envision is a major improvement of past initiative
as it is part and parcel of a holistic government as designed by the DOTr under
Secretary Tugade. Our officers and staff at DBP have done their best to formulate within
existing parameters a responsive financing program that will soften the financial impact
on drivers and their families while reducing of course our lending risk as well,” Romulo
said. 
 
For his part, Undersecretary for Road Transport Thomas Orbos said the PUVMP will not
materialize without the help of DBP.
 
“We, at the DOTr, cannot accomplish this if we do not have a strong financial partner,
which not does only bring in the financial component of this program but also the
needed technical assistance,” Orbos said.
 
Last 30 April 2017, the DOTr also signed an MOU with the Landbank of the Philippines
to set up a PhP1 billion financing for PUJs via the Special Environment-Friendly and
Efficiently Driven (SPEED) Jeepney Program.
 
The DOTr is eyeing to sign similar MOUs with different private financing institutions in
the next months geared towards pushing for the PUVMP.
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