Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Will the colorful, loud jeepneys of the Philippines soon disappear from the roads?


Kathleen Magramo, CNN
Tue, January 16, 2024 

They rattle through neighborhoods all over the Philippines decked out in gaudy hand-painted liveries featuring everything from the Virgin Mary to NBA stars, shuttling millions of people on their daily commutes to the tune of blaring horns and rumbling engines.

Affectionately called “king of the roads,” this form of public transport emerged from the resourcefulness of the post-World War II era when local mechanics converted huge numbers of jeeps abandoned by American troops, customizing them to accommodate civilian passengers.

With roughly 200,000 jeepneys across the country, they remain an affordable form of transportation in a country where the average annual income is around $3,500.

Jeepney fares start at just 20 cents (13 Philippine pesos), ferrying roughly 40% of commuters everywhere from workplaces, schools and malls, according to data from the Department of Transportation.

But the government wants to replace these often worn-out, highly polluting diesel-powered vehicles with new minibuses.

For years, jeepney drivers have argued that the cost to transition to cleaner vehicles is out of their reach. Meanwhile, commuters also fear that replacing traditional jeepneys with brand new vehicles could eventually lead to fare hikes.

Groups representing jeepney drivers have held protests in recent months, with the latest gathering set for Tuesday in the capital Manila.

But Mar Valbuena, chairman of transport group Manibela, said police attempted to stall jeepney drivers from joining that protest.

“We cannot proceed because some of our members were stuck at police checkpoints this morning… Some have been held at various police checkpoints for nearly two hours,” Valbuena told CNN affiliate CNN Philippines from the start point of the protest.

Mar Valbuena, chairman of transport group Manibela, has organized several protests against the jeepney modernization plan. - Josefiel Rivera/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Valbuena said he still expects roughly 15,000 jeepney drivers, in Manila and other provinces, to protest against a mandatory program to retire the traditional public transport vehicles arguing the scheme was “not studied properly.”

The transport group’s main concern was that the government scheme lacked funds, putting pressure instead on drivers to take hefty loans to comply with the modernization plans.

The uncertain future of jeepneys began in 2017, when the transport ministry ordered vehicles over 15 years old to be replaced with imported minibuses.

The minibuses come with more spacious seating, air-conditioning and runs on cleaner fuel compared with their predecessors – along with a steep price tag of about $50,000 ($2.8 million Philippine pesos), far beyond the reach of many.

“We really can’t afford that… even if we take out a loan, we’d be in debt until we die,” jeepney driver Joseph Sabado told CNN Philippines.

Jeepneys are mostly privately-owned and are often run by a sole proprietor. As a result, individual drivers have been reluctant to upgrade for new buses, saying the transition is pushing them into debt through hefty financing loans.

To qualify for government loans and subsidies, drivers and small-time operators must join cooperatives or corporations, which will own both the buses and the public franchises to operate them.

The government intended to mandate the switch by March 2020 but it has been pushed back three times due to the Covid pandemic.

This time, a firm deadline for jeepney operators to surrender their franchises and consolidate into cooperatives ended on December 31, 2023.

Jeepney owners who failed to join a cooperative will no longer be allowed to drive certain routes starting February, according to Zona Russet Tamayo, a director at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

The board said it is “determined to implement the program” saying “its benefits far outweigh the misunderstood program flaws,” said chairman Teofilo Guadiz III.


Jeepney drivers protesting the modernization plan on December 29, 2023 near Mendiola, Manila. - Jose Santos/NurPhoto/Getty Images

“We will continue to calibrate each component of the program in response to the clamor of the stakeholders, as we have done since the inception of the program. We will remain focused on the program’s primary beneficiaries – the commuters. We believe that overcoming the program’s challenges will lead in dramatic transformation in our transport system,” Guadiz told reporters in a press conference.

Roughly 76% of jeepney owners have chosen to consolidate under the program and over 1,700 cooperatives have been formed, according to official data, but activists dispute those figures and demanded the government to rethink its plan.

“It’s their right to protest, but commuters said they are getting tired of it. The important thing is that the consolidation is done,” Andy Ortega, head of the Office of Transport Cooperatives, told CNN Philippines.


Origins of the Iconic Philippine Jeepney: A Symbol of Filipino Culture

Theculturetrip.com

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/philippines/articles/how-the-jeepney-became-a-filipino-national-symbol

Oct 10, 2023 ... Jeepneys as a cultural symbol. The jeepney as public transport is unique to the Philippines. It is a proudly Pinoy creation. Considering its ...

Nytimes.com

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/09/world/asia/philippines-jeepney.html

Mar 9, 2023 ... The plan would require jeepney drivers to form a cooperative to be able to borrow funds from government banks to purchase the new vehicles.

Caranddriver.com

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15344340/the-history-of-the-jeepney-the-philippines-mass-transit-solution

Dec 23, 2016 ... Once based on World War II Willys Jeeps, these anachronistic buses serve in lieu of modern public transportation in the Philippines.

Stuartxchange.org

http://www.stuartxchange.org/Jeepney.html

Jeepney art is a combination of the "art of the accessory" and the "art of the color" applied on a basic canvas shell of galvanized metal or buffed and ...

Asia.nikkei.com

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Transportation/Philippines-jeepney-transition-plan-runs-into-gridlock

Jan 8, 2024 ... MANILA -- Oliver Valarozo, a grad student, spent a recent morning standing on the side of a street waiting for a jeepney that never came.


Remarkable Philippine Jeepneys


"King of the Road" - A typical jeepney, from Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines.
[Photo Courtesy of UHM Center for Southeast Asian Studies, SPAS]

Jeepneys are the poor-man's transport in the Philippines, from Batanes to the National Capital Region (Manila) and down to Davao City, in Mindanao. Found only in the Philippines, the versatile, durable and colorful jeepney is truly a mestizo - half-local and half-foreign - reflective of the national character of this uniquely Asian country. Its engine is imported, mostly from Japan, as "surplus" (second-hand) material. However, its body or chassis is designed by artistic, Filipino autobuilders who adorn it with variegated images, bouncing psychedelic colors and eardrum-breaking sounds. An average jeepney can normally seat 20 adult passengers. But in the remote areas in the countryside where transport is scarce, the versatile jeepney is typically overloaded. Passengers often ride with non-human cargoes like farm produce, or even animals.

Jeepneys began plying the streets of Manila after World War II, when U.S. soldiers left thousands of unserviceable jeeps. An entrepreneurial Caviteño named Leonardo Sarao saw in them a business opportunity for mass transport. He then remodelled the jeep to increase its functionality by extending the body to accommodate at least twice the number of passengers and by putting some railings at the back and top for extra passengers to cling to, and still leave some room for cargoes. When these GI jeeps ran out of supply, Sarao began importing surplus engines from Japan. Today, Sarao Motors proudly stands in Las Piñas City where the original jeepney is still being produced. However, competition has somewhat edged out Sarao as more jeepney factories and copycats have emerged, continually innovating and luring family buyers and transport operators alike.

What seems more striking about these jeepneys is, that they reveal something about the identity of their makers or owners. During this global age of transmigration and overseas movement of Filipino labor, it is not unusual to see markings on this vehicle's front side like "Katas ng Saudi" (literally, sweat from Saudi Arabia) to suggest that the owner bought the jeepney from his/her savings as overseas worker. Other items that catch the attention of a keen observer is the interior decor, with music loudly played from an improvised, removable radio-stereo set that keeps the driver awake. In front of the driver is a religious icon (usually a cross or a picture of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary), a lei made of fragrant sampaguita, and a "No Smoking" sign that the driver himself ironically ignores.

In a sense, the jeepney is a testament to the Filipino ingenuity. It symbolizes the diasporic, religious and sometimes perplexing character of a people colonized by two European powers.

More about jeepneys are found by clicking this site, or this fascinating narrative.

Text by fm@hawaii.edu






No comments:

Post a Comment