PISTON vehemently rejects the ongoing scheme of the LTFRB, orchestrated by the Marcos Jr. regime, which threatens to kill the livelihoods of thousands of jeepney drivers and operators through the extension of the forced franchise consolidation scheme under the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP).
The so-called “one last chance” for consolidation is nothing but a desperate admission of failure, exposing the glaring truth that countless routes remain unaccounted for. This regime even shamelessly exploits soaring fuel prices and the suffering of informal transport workers to coerce jeepney operators into surrendering their individual franchises, dangling fuel subsidies as bait for compliance with their deceitful agenda.
PISTON calls on the public to continuously oppose this franchise consolidation scheme and the entire charade of modernization. We demand an immediate junking of these exploitative programs and a collective withdrawal from consolidation.
This regime is blind to the true costs of their so-called modernization—lower incomes, crippling debt, and lost livelihoods for our drivers and operators!
We will not stand idly by as the cost of living worsen for every Filipino and we are all left with a chaotic, unreliable mass transport system perpetuated by a corporate-driven, foreign-oriented “modernization” program.