Jeepney drivers ask SC to nullify gov’t ordinances stopping them from plying routes

September 29, 2020

Jeepney drivers on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to nullify government’s issuances on their operation despite the easing of lockdowns in many areas arising from coronavirus pandemic.

In a petition filed by the officers and members of the National Confederation of Transport Workers Union, the High Tribunal was asked to annul 16 government issuances that affected jeepney operations.

The petitioners said the government through the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board, the Department of Transportation and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) prohibited petitioners from plying the roads on all areas under the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in March 2020.

“To make matters worse, the issuances of respondents showed an obvious preference to modernized jeepneys even though petitioners aver that no substantial distinction exists between modernized and traditional jeepneys,” they added.

According to them, these events “snatched the petitioners’ right to work for at least four months -- and counting''.

“Traditional jeepney drivers are fed up with the state’s inconsistent standards and issuances regarding public transportation,” they said.

Named respondents in the petition were Health Secretary Francisco Duque III as chairperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles, Martin Delgra III as chairperson of the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB), and Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary ArthurTugade. DMS