JEEPNEY ADAPTATION, ANYONE?

What walks like a duck and talks like a duck is probably a duck? But is a vehicle that does not look like a jeepney probably a jeepney? I have been looking at the so called “modern jeepneys” that are now plying our streets, but as far as my two eyes can see, they do not look like jeepneys, modern or not. At best, I could say that they look like minibuses, modern or not. I think that the government might have made two significant mistakes in promoting the so-called jeepney modernization program. Firstly, they promoted a design that really does not look like a jeepney at all. Secondly, they promoted the term “consolidation”, instead of cooperativism. Perhaps what the government really means is for the drivers to join a transport cooperative to become a part owner of a jeepney, and not to “consolidate” their jeepneys to whatever. What puzzles me is that the government is also promoting these imported minibuses, and not the locally manufactured “modern jeepneys” that are as good as, or perhaps even better than their imported versions. Is it not better for the government to say that transport cooperatives should buy locally produced modern jeepneys, instead of buying the imported minibuses that do not even look like jeepneys? Should the focus of the government be on the emissions compliance of these vehicles instead? Meaning that locally made jeepneys should be approved as long as they are emissions compliant? IKE SENERES/09088877282/01-12-2024