The Jeepney, a Cultural Icon of the Philippines, Fights for Its Survival

Jeepneys, which have plied the roads of the Philippines for generations, are now facing an existential threat.

Transcript

00:00Jeepney driver Reyes Ganilla has been ferrying passengers around Manila in this, his pride and joy, for over a decade.

00:18He earns some $10 a day, a good living, he says, for someone like him who never got to finish school.

00:25But the government is looking to phase out his source of income.

00:29So traditional na sa Pilipinas ang Jeep.

00:32So kung papalitan nila, hindi lang kami ang apiktado, kundi pati ang mga pasahero.

00:38Kasi pagka-modern na, yung pamasay mataas na.

00:42So sa Jeep, parang pang masa lang.

00:45Escanilla's Jeepney is 20 years old, but its design dates back to the end of the Second World War,

00:52when Filipinos turned Jeeps abandoned by US troops into passenger vehicles.

00:58Easy to fix, the diesel-powered Jeepneys became a fixture in the Philippines, gaining the title king of the road.

01:06To this day, in Manila alone, millions of people use them daily.

01:11There are around 200,000 Jeepneys in the Philippines, but the government wants these gas-guzzling vehicles off the road,

01:19and is trying to replace them with modern minibuses to cut down on pollution.

01:24Many Jeepney drivers are unhappy about the plan and fighting back.

01:28Piston, a group that represents them, says they can't afford to buy new vehicles without taking on a lot of debt.

01:36Magdudulot ito ng kawalanang hanap buhay.

01:39Pangalawa, may posibilidad na yung mga pamilya ng driver ay gugutumin at hindi nila mapapag-aral ang kanika nilang mga anak.

01:51But not everyone is against the phase-out plan.

01:54Yes, this one, I drove this one.

01:57When did you drive that one?

02:00About 65 years ago.

02:03Former Jeepney driver Roberto Martin now operates 65 modern air-conditioned buses in Manila.

02:10His vehicles still run on diesel, but he says they're much cleaner than the Jeepneys.

02:17We have to put this in the museum. That's my suggestion. Because as we modernize our transport sector,

02:27we have to propagate all these old units.

02:30Martin believes the old-style Jeepneys will eventually disappear from the Philippines' roads,

02:36but concedes it will take years. Successive governments have tried to phase out Jeepneys,

02:42and while many have disappeared, it's clear that this iconic vehicle hasn't quite reached the end of the road.

02:50Lufi Li, Joseph Wu, David Santos and Louise Watt in Manila for Taiwan Plus.

02:57Is that a lot of fitness?

03:09We loaded Leo.