It’s hard to imagine the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman without ikots, the school’s nickname for jeepneys that drive students and faculty to and around the campus, but it turns out they’re not safe from the government’s jeepney phaseout either.
Yesterday, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) held a surprise jeepney inspection in the university as part of their Tanggal Bulok, Tanggal Usok (Get rid of the old, get rid of the smoke) initiative. Drivers found to have been smoke-belching and violating other standards prescribed by the initiative, which aims to get rid of jeepneys 15 years old and above, were fined PHP5,000 (US$96.88).
While the plan to modernize the jeepney could improve the city’s traffic situation and help the country meet its environmental goals, many students complained about how the government is implementing the phaseout.
The DOTr provided 10 solar-powered jeepneys, but they were not enough. JM Banson, a first-year student in UP told Coconuts Manila that he was about 10 – 15 minutes late for all his classes yesterday.
“So I commute [every day] and I use the jeep to both get to school and get around the campus,” he said. “Without the jeeps, I couldn’t get to school so I had to walk and also had to walk to my different classes which made me late for each one.”
Banson lives about 11 kilometers away from the campus but it takes him an hour to travel there.
UP-Diliman is a 493-hectare campus and classes are usually held in different buildings that are sometimes far away from each other.
People also complained about the jeepney phaseout, even causing the search term #NoToJeepneyPhaseout to trend on Philippine Twitter.
“Can I just say? What about the students who need to go to class? They can do the operation but they should have made an announcement. Give the jeepney drivers the opportunity to fix their vehicles and alert the students that something will happen,” Twitter user @almiraretrolove said in English and Filipino.
https://twitter.com/almiraretrolove/status/961441389857849344
@nuhdeenvh thinks the phaseout is “anti-poor,” a sentiment many share because most jeepney drivers can’t afford to buy the new vehicles the government wants to replace jeepneys with.
https://twitter.com/nuhdeenvh/status/961446077508468736
https://twitter.com/TheRainBro/status/961606803950780416
However, some have also defended the phaseout, pointing out that the government will help finance the new vehicles.
https://twitter.com/ce_bonjo/status/961461747558244352
Last week, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened UP students who protest against the administration and said that he will kick them out and give their slots to lumads, an indigenous group in the southern Philippines.
But that did not stop them from protesting about the phaseout yesterday.
Drivers and students now hold protest against jeepney phaseout at AS Steps. Five decades ago, it was also the plight of jeepney drivers that sparked the historic Diliman Commune. #NoToJeepneyPhaseout pic.twitter.com/8ihE1JWxll
— Philippine Collegian (@phkule) February 8, 2018
Because drivers were part of the protest, it also contributed to lessening jeepney routes in the campus.
