The Iloilo City local government announced last month that it is reviewing the bus-rapid transit (BRT) system proposed by First Balfour Inc. This scheme is part of the bogus Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Plan (PUVMP) which drives jeepneys off the road and divests small drivers and operators of their livelihood. The BRT will occupy the roads cleared by the jeepney phaseout and the routes thinned by the Local Public Transport Route Plan. First Balfour is owned by the Ayala family, one of the largest bourgeois-compradors in the country.

The plan for the BRT scheme in the city was laid out in 2023 by Swedish “experts”, using a $1 million grant from Swedfund, the Swedish government’s financial institution. Part of the conditions for the the grant, actually a loan to the local government, is to have Swedish consultants and companies into the local transportation sector.

Swedfund and its accomplice Iloilo officials are pushing the BRT scheme using the pretext that the city needs it for “environmental protection and a low-carbon emission urban transportation system.” Under this, e-buses will replace the “old jeeps” purportedly to reduce the city’s pollution and greenhouse gases (GHG) which contributes to global warming. This is plain nonsense since the electricity plants themselves are the largest producers of GHG. Panay’s 91.9% of electricity needs depend on coal-fired (58.2%) and diesel/bunker-fired (33.7%) plants. GHG emissions by regular buses and jeepneys are small in comparison.

The project will require an estimated ₱2.4 billion for road widening and installation of the necessary facilities such as waiting sheds, traffic lights and other requirements for the BRT system to operate. The local government now wants to place it under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program for the national government to allocate public funds for it.

First Balfour will initially cover the major route of Diversion Road and key routes in the districts of Jaro and Arevalo. It plans to buy an initial 48 e-buses or battery-operated buses from BYD (Build Your Dreams), a China-based multinational company. BYD e-buses cost $246,000 to $605,000 each or ₱14.27 million-₱35.09 million ($58=₱1). With the current limited service of e-buses in Metro Manila, the base fare is already at $1 (₱58). Fare is three to four times more expensive than regular buses and 4-5 times more expensive compared to traditional jeepneys.

There are 2,500 traditional jeepneys in the city as of December 2023. Data from the city’s transportation agency show that 75% of them registered for consolidation for fear of losing their livelihood by May. The 625 units that did not consolidate are relentlessly threatened being evicted from the streets. Even worse, since June, only 40% of the jeepneys from surrounding towns have been allowed to ply through the city, notwithstanding forced consolidation. This drastically dropped the income of drivers from ₱800/per day to ₱300 and of operators from ₱3,500 to ₱1,500 per day.

Dumping ground of foreign capital

Eleven other BRT systems are under the PPP program of the Marcos regime besides the Iloilo BRT. These are all being pushed and promoted by foreign financial institutions.

BRT systems in Bataan, Central Luzon, Manila Bay, EDSA (Metro Manila High-Quality Bus Corridor and EDSA Busway Improved Project), Skyway, Panglao-Tagbilaran in Bohol, General Santos City and Cagayan de Oro are in the stage of preparation, planning and development. The Davao BRT project has been approved and the construction of the Cebu BRT has begun.

The BRTs in EDSA and Davao are projects of the Asian Development Bank of Japan. It borrowed one billion dollars or ₱58 billion for the Davao BRT.

Meanwhile, the Cebu BRT is a project of the World Bank under its Clean Technology Finance and Agence Française de Développement of the French government. Ferdinand Marcos Jr himself attended the “project ground breaking” on February 27, 2023.