The shift from gas-fueled transportation to electric vehicles is needed now more than ever, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista recently said in a business club forum.
“We want a green transport system to be in place sooner, and we are working on a roadmap to transition public transport system to EVs,” he said.
The transportation agency is reportedly studying the possibility of requiring public transportation to shift to electric vehicles due to its contribution to both government and non-government efforts to decarbonize the country’s road network and improve air quality.
Reports say DOTr was also considering giving incentives, like tax breaks and “soft loans” to the country’s transport operators to help them jumpstart their shift to EVs.
Earlier this year, the government issued Executive Order 12 series of 2023, aiming to lower the tariff rates for EVs and its components from 5 percent to 30 percent, all the way down to amended zero percent.
The Department of Trade and Industry initially said that the implementation of EO12 will nourish the local industry of EVs and it will help persuade Filipinos to use a cleaner mode of transportation, but various stakeholders have expressed their appeal to make the EO more inclusive by including e-motorcycles in the temporary suspension of import tariff rates.
Convincing the transportation sector, as well as the general public, to accelerate the shift to EVs will require the coordination and cooperation of various government agencies to come up with a suite of creative solutions that will ultimately make EVs more affordable, as that would be the most effective way to make it a viable option for all stakeholders and transform the transportation sector. This is when wishful thinking by government officials who know how to say the right words but cannot back it up with action will simply not be enough.
The country’s land transportation system is in dire need of transformation, where making it green is but one component. The sooner government can make that possible, the better it is for the country so we can focus on other the other facets of the system that needs reengineering, such as making it less car-centric, encouraging active mobility, and revolutionizing an archaic public mass transport.*
