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DOTC plan to phaseout old jeeps needs president's approval – DOJ


The Department of Transportation and Communication’s plan to modernize the country’s public transport system by phasing-out old jeepneys still needs the approval of the president, according to the legal opinion of the Department of Justice.

The Justice Department issued the opinion in response to a letter from Transportation Assistant Secretary Sherielysse Bonifacio asking the DOJ if the DOTC needed the president's nod to implement its Public Utility Jeepney (PUJ) Modernization Program.

Under the modernization program, the DOTC will impose a 15-year age limit on PUJs, even as PUJ units covered by recently-issued certificates of public convenience must be totally brand new and compliant with other prescribed guidelines.

The program aims to modernize the fleet of jeepneys plying the road though a low carbon and low emission vehicle technology.

Standards on carbon emission and fleet management and maintenance would also be imposed to ensure passenger safety, and improve ambient air quality.

Credit program

To address PUJ operators’ and drivers’ concern of undue economic burden from having to purchase brand new PUJ units, the government would allow them to apply for loans with the Development Bank of the Philippines for this specific purpose.

To do this, the DOTC would put up a guarantee fund to secure the loans of  the PUJ operators and drivers.

The guarantee fund will be funded through the Special Vehicle Pollution Control Funds (SVPCF), created under Republic Act No. 8794, also known as “A Act Imposing A Motor Vehicle User’s Charge on Owners of All Types of Motor Vehicles and for Other Purposes.”

In its legal opinion signed by Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas, the DOJ cited Executive Order 558-A, which clarified the overall framework in the implementation of government credit programs.

As a credit program, the PUJ Modernization Program falls under the second category stated in EO 558-A, or those other credit programs of government non-financial agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations not falling under the first category.

The first category which the jeepney modernization program does not fall under according to the DOJ, refers to credit programs which shall support the poverty alleviation thrust of the government and focus only on the municipalities and barangays currently identified by the People’s Credit and Finance Corp as “unserved areas.”

“As applied to the present case, the PUJ Modernization Program is a credit program that falls within the broad parameters of EO 138 and EO  558-A, i.e. it is a program of the department whereby the DBP will be extending loans to PUJ drivers or operators, secured by a guarantee fund comprised of the proceeds from the SVPCF,” read the DOJ’s legal opinion.

“Accordingly, the PUJ Modernization Program is subject to the specific approval of the President. Where the law is clear and unambiguous, it must be taken to mean exactly what it says and the court has no choice but to see to it that its mandate is obeyed,” added the DOJ.

The DOJ said since the modernization program would require the utilization of the SVPCF, which is considered as a “special fund under Section 8 of RA 8794, prior presidential approval must be secured. — DVM, GMA News

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