Marcos moves PUV consolidation deadline to April 30

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has extended to April 30, 2024 the deadline for operators to consolidate under the government’s public utility modernization (PUV) program.

”This extension is to give an opportunity to those who expressed an intention to consolidate but did not make the previous cut-off,” the Presidential Communications Office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The PCO said Marcos made the decision following a recommendation from Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista.

If not for the extension, unconsolidated PUVs would be the target of the government’s anti-colorum efforts beginning February 1.

The government is implementing a PUV modernization program that aims to provide reliable, safe, accessible, adequate, and environment-friendly public road transportation across the country. 

PUV operators are also required to form cooperatives.

The Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said public utility vehicles totaling 190,000 units, including UV Express, PUJs, mini-buses, and buses, have availed of consolidation.

As of mid-January 2024, UV Express was able to achieve 82% consolidation; jeepneys, 75%; buses, 86%; and mini-buses, 45%, the LTFRB said.

The government started implementing the modernization program in 2017 and has so far established 1,728 cooperatives and corporations with 262,344 members.

Transport groups have a pending petition before the Supreme Court to declare the PUV modernization program, which they say is costly and threatens their livelihood, unconstitutional.