The Office of Transportation Cooperatives (OTC) said Sunday that only 50 percent of operators and drivers have consolidated their franchises in Metro Manila.

OTC Chairman Jesus Ferdinand Ortega said the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is expected to release the exact number of consolidated units on Monday.

“By tomorrow, I expect LTFRB to release the latest, most accurate number of consolidated units because there were plenty who applied up to the last day of consolidation,” Ortega said.

“In the whole country, we have consolidated more than 70 percent of units. In Metro Manila or in NCR (National Capital Region)…I last heard the other day that it was around 42 or up to 50 percent,” he added.

Ortega said that if drivers join cooperatives under the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program, they will gain more working benefits including having a daily wage equivalent to eight hours of operations, overtime pay, as well as memberships in the Social Security System, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and Pagtutulungan sa Kinabukasan: Ikaw, Bangko, Industriya at Gobyerno (Pag-Ibig).

On top of this, they will also receive dividends from the earnings of the cooperatives.

Ortega also said drivers will be able to vote for officers in the cooperatives.

However, he confessed that they had no way to distinguish which units were consolidated.

Ortega said unconsolidated drivers and operators will be given a chance to ply until January 31 but after February 1, their routes can be taken over by cooperatives.

“This January, the LTFRB will coordinate with the cooperatives and corporations so that they can take over the routes where there are none or few units have consolidated so that, come February 1, there will still be transportation on those routes,” he said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS