A group of jeepney operators and drivers, commuters, and advocates asked the Supreme Court yesterday to void a slew of transport regulations that seek to implement the government’s Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).

The petitioners, led by Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (PISTON) Chairperson Modeflor Floranda, contend that the PUVMP violated their right to association, right against illegal seizures, and right to livelihood. Moreover, the petitioners told the court that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) did not have the power to issue the seven documents that form the core of the PUVMP.

“There is material and substantial invasion with the revocation of franchises of unconsolidated PUVs. Petitioners who are public commuters are especially disadvantaged with the reduction of available PUVs–and options–on road,” read part of the 57-page petition.

The court has yet to act on the petition. But given that the unconsolidated operators’ franchises are valid only until December 31, the petitioners have also asked the justices to put the controversial policy on hold as the case plays out in court.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has so far ruled out any further extension of the deadline for jeepney operators to consolidate themselves into corporations or cooperatives. Failure to consolidate would result in the revocation of jeepney operators’ franchise, barring them from plying the roads by January 1, 2024.

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Wednesday downplayed the PUV operators’ plea, saying that they are ready even if the transport strikes last for an entire year. MMDA Chairperson Romando Artes said that the “government cannot be held hostage anymore … even if it would inconvenience the commuters.”

The petition’s filing is part of the transport sector’s ongoing opposition to the PUVMP, which, if implemented, could render over 71,000 jeepneys and UVs unable to travel, affecting some 28.5 million commuters, according to PISTON. An estimated total of 200,000 public transport drivers and operators are also set to lose their livelihoods once the program pushes through.

The government’s insistence on the PUVMP has forced various transport groups to hold transport strikes. Just this year alone, three massive nationwide transport strikes have been staged in March, November, and December.

“The matter of the mandatory consolidation of franchises is a matter of public and personal interest for the petitioners in this case. It is more so a matter of transcendental importance, with potential effect on millions of operators, drivers, users, and beneficiaries of jeepney operations,” wrote the petitioners, with former Bayan Muna Party-list Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate serving as their lawyers.

For the petitioners, the PUVMP strikes at the core of various rights guaranteed under the constitution. At the outset, they assailed the PUVMP for violating the right to association, as it essentially forces operators and drivers to form or join corporations or cooperatives.

“[Under the PUVMP], the individual operators are being penalized for not joining an association. They are essentially left with no choice but to consolidate if they wish to keep their livelihood. This is a gross and patent violation of the individual operators’ freedom of association as guaranteed by the Constitution,” the pleading read.

The jeepney operators and drivers part of the petition also asserted that implementing the PUVMP is tantamount to the government robbing their jeepney units and livelihoods without even getting a proper hearing. This part of the PUVMP, they claim, violates their right against illegal seizures. 

They also blasted the policy’s discrimination against jeepneys, which only account for 2 percent of registered vehicles. Invoking the concept of “equal protection,” the petitioners told the justices to apply the “strict scrutiny test” in reviewing the PUVMP. The test allows courts to initially presume the policy to be invalid unless the government, by a very high standard, proves otherwise.

“[F]orcing the individual jeepney operators to consolidate which would lead to the eventual revocation of the individual jeepneys, without adequate subsidy, outrun the bounds of reason, violate fair play and result in sheer oppression,” read part of the pleading.

The petitioners, moreover, went as far as contending that the seven PUVMP issuances also grabbed Congress’s power to make law, adding that the executive branch did not even have the power to enact such a sweeping policy in the first place.

As Congress has not passed a law regarding PUV modernization, the DOTr and its agencies lacked the power to implement PUVMP, argued the petition. But even if such a law exists, the policy must still be implemented through “least restrictive means”—a standard that the PUVMP violated as the looming phaseout “appears to be the most coercive measure,” added the petition.

The petition, undeniably, must clear a high bar in a Supreme Court packed with appointees of former President Rodrigo Duterte, under whose term the current PUVMP scheme came out. It also does not help that the court is more willing to side with the government in high-profile cases. And factor in the snail-pace of the court, time may not be on the petitioners’ side. 

Regardless, the petitioners remain hopeful that the justices could hand them a much-needed reprieve from the PUVMP that the president denied them. Alongside their court action, the transport groups also declared that they would continue their protest actions until Marcos heeds their demands.

“Napatunayan nating walang puso si Marcos Jr. dahil malawakang kawalan ng trabaho at malubhang transport disaster ang ibubungad niya sa bagong taon," lead petitioner Floranda said yesterday. "Kaya hiling namin sa Korte Suprema na agad itong aksyunan para isalba hindi lang ang kabuhayan ng mga tsuper at operator, kundi ang kapakanan ng mga komyuter." ●