Early this year, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Region 4 visited Marinduque and the cities of Calapan and Puerto Princesa along with modernized PUV manufacturers to promote Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).
LTFRB Region 4 Director Renwick Rutaquio encouraged operators and drivers to consider investing on modernized jeepneys and other public vehicles which will provide convenient and environment friendly vehicles.
As to the cost of investments, Director Rutaquio said transport cooperatives and associations may seek partnerships with institutions that can help purchase modernized PUVs.
One such institution is the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), the 8th largest bank in the country that supports the national government’s PUVMP.
DBP announced on Thursday that their loan assistance for PUV Modernization has reached P753 million.
A total of 53 transport cooperatives have availed of the funding support under DBP’s Program Assistance to Support Alternative Driving Approaches (DBP PASADA) initiative.
Conceived in 2017, the DBP Pasada Financing Program is a special loan financing facility available to corporations and cooperatives registered with the Office of Transportation Cooperatives, participating in the PUVMP and qualified to receive franchises by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) under the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines of the PUVMP.
“State financing institutions such as DBP would continue to assist public transport operators and cooperatives as they grapple with the challenges of the “new normal” spawned by this global pandemic,” DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel G. Herbosa said.
Herbosa said there is a need to ramp up support to further improve the country’s mass transportation system to mitigate the impact to the economy of community quarantines.
He added that an efficient public transport system remains an important component boosting investor confidence as the country gradually recovers from the ill-effects of the pandemic.
Apart from DBP, Landbank of the Philippines is another prospective financing partner for transport groups that would like to benefit in the PUVMP.
Landbank sent representatives during the PUVMP caravan in Marinduque and in the cities of Calapan and Puerto Princesa. (Lyndon Plantilla/PIAMIMAROPA)
