Travel between Tubod and Tangub will take only 7 minutes by 2024

Travel time between Tubod in Lanao del Norte and Tangub City in Misamis

Occidental will take only seven minutes via the 3.17 kilometer Panguil Bay Bridge which is now 63% complete, according to the Department of Public Work and Highways (DPWH).

At present, travel between these areas is by sea via RoRo

(Roll On, Roll Off) vessel which takes from 90 to 150 minutes inclusive of loading and unloading time, or by land which spans about a hundred kilometers and takes from two hours to two and a half hours.

A progress report posted on the DPWH website said the agency has started constructing the bridge top slab on both ends in Tangub and Tubod for what would be the longest water-spanning bridge in Northern Mindanao by the first half of 2024. The 7.37 billion peso project is funded by a loan agreement between the Philippine government and the Korean Export-Import Bank (Korea Eximbank).

Nonito Llanos III, regional director of the Land Transportation Franchising and regulatory Board (LTFRB) told a virtual presser on Friday that owners of jeepneys that will be scrapped will be paid per unit based on their appraised value while the local government prepares to shift to the High Priority Bus System (HPBS).

Asked when this will be implemented, Llanos told MindaNews on Sunday: “It would be best for the city government to answer this because they’re the ones managing the timelines with the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) HPBS.”

Under HPBS, low-floor city buses will replace the jeepneys.

Last month, the Senate urged the LTFRB to postpone its plan to phase out traditional jeepneys nationwide by June 30 in line with the implementation of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP). The deadline was later extended to December 31, 2023.

A planned week-long strike last week that started Monday last week was lifted on the second day after a dialogue in Malacanang with transport groups Manibela and PISTON.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last Wednesday thanked transport groups for lifting the strike and vowed they would review the modernization program.

Marcos said the December deadline would give them enough

In Davao City, Retired Col. Dionesio Abude, head of the City Transportation and Traffic Management Office, said the local government hopes to see HPBS running during the last quarter of 2024.

Llanos said the amount that will be received by owners of old jeepneys for every unit scrapped will be on top of the financial, technical, and livelihood assistance that the government will provide as part of the social development package for affected drivers and operators.

Llanos noted that the private sector is set to establish a “scrapping facility” in the city.

15-year old jeepneys

Engr. Ronnel Victor Panigon, focal person for PUV Modernization Program of the LTFRB-Davao, explained that only those units that are over 15 years old and no longer roadworthy would be scrapped.

If these old jeepneys pass the roadworthiness assessment of the Land Transportation Office-Davao, owners can keep them but only for private use.

Retired Col. Dionesio Abude, head of the City Transportation and Traffic Management Office, added that drivers of the scrapped jeepneys will be prioritized for hiring by operators of the HPBS buses but they will be required to undergo training with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to equip them with skills before they can qualify to be bus drivers.

He said the affected drivers can also work as mechanics and