The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is intensifying its support for transport cooperatives that have modernized their Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) units, specifically to help them meet their financial obligations to banks.
The agency said it continues to accept applications from operators and drivers who have not yet joined the modernization program.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the DOTr to ensure that transport cooperatives struggling to pay the monthly amortization of their modern PUVs receive assistance.
The president’s directive also addresses issues such as route rationalization, liberalization of regulations on manufacturing jeepneys, and expedited processing of requirements for those who want to join the consolidation.
Assistant Secretary Mon Ilagan, executive director of the Office of Transportation Cooperatives (OTC) and DOTr spokesperson, said consolidation remains open to operators and drivers so they can become part of a cooperative and be given provisional authority (PA) to operate and continue their livelihood.
According to Ilagan, Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon will continue to listen to the cooperatives, as well as operators and drivers, to properly implement the program not only for the security of drivers’ livelihoods but also for the safety of commuters.
Last May, the DOTr issued Department Order (DO) No. 2025-009, reopening the government’s consolidation program to PUV operators and drivers.
This allows them to join existing cooperatives or form their own to operate on routes with similar entities.
Under DO No. 2025-009, PUV operators and drivers who failed to form cooperatives, as well as those with pending applications for consolidation, will be covered by the order signed by Dizon on May 6, 2025.
“PUJ and UVE operators covered by this DO shall be allowed to join existing consolidated transport service entities (TSEs) in routes with 60 percent and above consolidation [rate], subject to the conformity of the said TSEs,” the DO read.
