Cancel franchises of striking jeepneys.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Neal H. Cruz

THIS administration, always knuckling under the threat by lawbreakers to sow disorder in the streets, is trying to prevent the planned strike by jeepney drivers today, most likely by trying to appease them by giving in to some of their demands, principally a hefty increase in passenger fares, which is not justified. But a jeepney strike can really be a blessing in disguise for urban areas choked and polluted by jeepney traffic. It can be an opportunity for the government, specifically the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to recover its nerve and restore sanity in the streets.

The jeepney, converted from theWorld War II jeep by Filipino ingenuity, provided a transport necessity after Liberation when there was practically no transportation system. The jeepney boosted entrepreneurship: mechanical and body repair shops reconditioned and remodeled discarded military vehicles. Families with a little extra cash bought jeepneys and rented them out to drivers. The enterprise became so lucrative that some families have whole fleets of jeepneys. A homecoming Filipino contract worker from the Middle East usually bought a jeepney for his family, aside from the ubiquitous karaoke, which is a standard pasalubong.

The jeepney (or the tricycle) is heaven-sent for the indolent Filipino. The owner gets a sure income from his vehicle daily even if he just sleeps in the house and makes babies. The driver's take-home pay is what remains of the day's passenger fares after he pays the rent, the fuel and the oil. But he prefers it because it involves a minimum of driving and a maximum of sleeping and snacking and chatting. Yes, the drivers actually spend more time sleeping as they wait in line for passengers at the jeepney terminals than time actually driving. Go to any jeepney terminal and you will see all the empty jeepneys parked there with the drivers either sleeping inside or eating or drinking in a nearby sidewalk stall. And the driver has no boss to chastise him for sleeping on the job. He is his own boss. As long as he pays the day's rent, the owner doesn't care what he does.

The mechanical and body shops in Cavite and other areas also make a fortune recycling junk vehicles into jeepneys. There is such a big demand for them. Even non-jeeps were remodeled to make them look as if they were originally jeeps.

But for all its usefulness when it was needed, and for all the romantic notion that its decorations and paint are folk art, the jeepney has become too numerous and a pest. Like the human population, there is now an explosion of vehicles-jeepneys, tricycles, buses, private cars and vans-in the urban areas while there is hardly any increase in roads.