Drivers, students hold anti-jeepney phaseout protest in UP

Several students and jeepney drivers on Thursday staged protest against the jeepney modernization program inside the University of the Philippines-Diliman campus. The protesters are denouncing the Land Transportation Office’s “Oplan Tanggal Bulok, Tanggal Usok” policy or the operation intended to remove dilapidated units for pollution reduction.The protest came as Department of Transportation sent representatives from the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (I-ACT) composed of the the LTO and the Metro Manila Development Authority, which conducted an operation in the jeepney terminals in the Diliman area. The DOTr deployed ten solar-powered jeepneys and offered free rides but the student council said these were not enough to satisfy the commuter demand. The student council also opposed the form of jeepney modernization  saying it “further handicaps jeepney driver”. The events today only manifest our concerns with the project, casting aside the welfare and the livelihood of current jeepney drivers without a proper means of transition or compensation”, the USC said in a statement. “We see that the swift and railroaded implementation of this measure stunts the ability of current jeepney drivers and operators to adapt, endangering their livelihoods”. The state university’s student council said the transport agency’s move would result in phasing out of jeepneys and shortage of it, which is “detrimental to commuters”.