27/07/2026
REPORT BACK | PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IS A RIGHT: COMMUTERS, WORKERS, CONSUMERS, RIGHTS AND ADVOCACY GROUPS PUSH FOR SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC MASS TRANSPORT FOR ALL FILIPINOS
The Samahan at Ugnayan ng mga Konsyumer para sa Ikauunlad ng Bayan Network (SUKI) and PARA Commuters Network, along with workers, research and advocacy, and rights groups, convened in a transport privatization multistakeholder forum co-organized with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on June 30 in Diliman, Quezon City.
Discussions centered on how, under the 4-year-old Marcos administration, public transport infrastructure has increasingly been ceded by the government to private entities through public-private partnerships (PPPs). Participants noted that this leaves transport workers vulnerable to income losses, commuters and migrant workers exposed to fare hikes, and informal communities at risk of displacement due to development mispriorities.
According to IBON researcher Minerva San Miguel, 280 projects under President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr’s Build Better More Program are dedicated to physical connectivity and transportation, of which 180 are subject to PPPs. Of these, 54 have been awarded to the country’s richest billionaires, including 23 to San Miguel Corporation (SMC) under its President and CEO Ramon Ang. Participants criticized this framework for transferring risks to the public while concentrating profits in the hands of oligarchs and large private corporations.
Framing the day’s discussion in his keynote address, PARA Commuters Network's Nanoy Rafael argued that mass public transport must function as both a public service and a public utility—serving commuters directly while driving economic and social development. He said the country's current transport system remains "atrasado, maka-dayuhan, at maka-negosyo" (backward, foreign-oriented, and business-oriented), with the government treating public transport as a tradeable commodity rather than a public good.
Citing a Greenpeace estimate that as much as Php1.1 trillion in climate-tagged government expenditures may have been lost to corruption since 2023, he argued that the government's failure is not a lack of capital but a lack of accountability. He called for a nationalized mass public transport system anchored on democratic transport planning—"progresibo, makabayan, at makamasa (progressive, nationalist and mass-oriented)."
On the privatization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Sandigan PH representative Arlene Castillo raised concerns over the growing financial burdens on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from airport fees. She noted that OFWs collectively spend Php96 billion on documentary requirements, and that while they are exempted from terminal fees, other airport charges keep rising, adding to their overall costs.
PUSO ng NAIA Coordinator Romeo Sauler, meanwhile, called out government agencies for removing the requirement for an independent consultant in the NAIA-NNIC PPP. He argued that while quality service comes with a price, it should not be at the expense of strengthening public service entities.
Karider representative Andey Espiritu said the TNVS sector remains legally unrecognized due to the lack of a Motorcycle Taxi Law, leaving riders without adequate livelihood security. EILER Research Head Mark Santos called for a higher living wage, and for TNVS companies to guarantee social protection, cost support, and a greater share of fares for workers, while emphasizing the need for inclusive national industrialization.
Echoing these concerns, BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN) representative and eight-year BPO employee Lyle Formilleza describe their daily struggle of commuting home after work every night. “May mga kasama kaming naglalakad nang malayo at may mga tumatawag sa pamilya habang naglalakad sa madilim na kalsada para lang makauwi,” Formilleza said, underscoring how TNVS have become essential—but also increasingly costly—for their mobility. He highlighted the severe lack of affordable public transportation, saying that “Ang transportasyon ay hindi dapat luho. Hindi dapat ito maging espesyal na pabor (Transportation should not be a luxury or special favor).”
Participants reiterated that public transportation is a public service and right that the State should ensure for all Filipinos.
Beyond NAIA and the TNVS experience, the forum turned to the impact of so-called development infrastructure on surrounding communities. Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY) Secretary-General Mimi Doringo raised the case of Parola Compound in Tondo, home to an estimated 10,000 families who face displacement from the planned Southern Access Link Expressway (SALEX) despite decades-old government issuances nominally protecting their occupancy. She noted that the SALEX groundbreaking on May 22 was followed the next day by a fire that razed around 2,000 homes, warning that SALEX together with the ongoing North-South Bridgeway project could displace the community entirely. Thata Alindogan of Bayan Muna likewise shared the formation of an alliance of workers, urban poor, churchgoers, and advocates in Batangas to resist the demolition of their communities for the Philippine National Railways (PNR) development spanning Pampanga to Laguna.
On the legislative front, Makabayan former representative Arlene Brosas discussed House Resolution No. 2316, calling for a congressional investigation into NAIA’s privatization, and cited other resolutions examining the negative impacts of the privatization of various services and utilities on the public. Inklusibo representative Hans Bautista meanwhile pointed to the Philippines’ low overall mobility and transport ratings. He advocated for a public transportation plan that genuinely serves the interest of the people as part of a broader national industrialization program.
Responding to these concerns, Commission on Human Rights policy officer Atty. Gemma Parojinog affirmed the independent body’s commitment to upholding the right to mobility and supporting campaigns that critically examine and advance alternatives to the discredited privatization and commercialization of the country’s transport system.
Closing the forum, SUKI Network Spokesperson Amihan Mabalay reiterated the central role of the transport system in people’s lives. She stressed that any form of modern public transport is superficial and inadequate unless it genuinely prioritizes the welfare of workers and commuters over the interests of oligarchs.
Participants agreed to lobby together for both immediate and long-term policy reforms. These include nationalizing and funding public mass transportation as a social service; developing the local transport industry as part of a broader strategy for national industrialization; ending government subsidies to big transport corporations; stopping the privatization of public transport and infrastructure such as terminals, stations, hubs, expressways, airports and ports, and their displacement of communities; and expanding active mobility infrastructure such as bike lanes, accessible sidewalks, and walkways. # # #
