The Senate has increased the 2026 budget for the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP) to PHP2.5 billion, nearly doubling the allocation to strengthen nationwide route rationalization and technical planning under the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

During Thursday’s deliberations, Senator JV Ejercito, sponsor of the DOTr budget, said the Senate raised the PTMP allocation from PHP1.3 billion in the original General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

“For the PTMP, under GAB, it has given a budget of PHP1.3 billion. But through the Senate’s intervention, we increased it to PHP2.5 billion. So halos na-doble po natin (we nearly doubled it),” he said.

Ejercito added that the additional support would help address long-standing gaps in transport planning.

“With this increase, it will address the issues that were mentioned earlier. Malaking tulong po (This will be a big help),” he said.

Senator Risa Hontiveros welcomed the augmentation, noting the need for sufficient funding to accelerate Local Public Transport Route Plans (LPTRPs).

As of Nov. 15, DOTr reported that 1,237 of 1,591 local government units have submitted draft LPTRPs, while 617 were approved.

The increased PTMP budget will support activities such as route planning consultations, JICA-assisted studies, LPTRP manual enhancement, operator training, and procurement of consultants for inter-regional and inter-provincial route rationalization.

Ejercito said the funding boost is crucial to meeting the DOTr’s target of completing 77 percent of route rationalization by mid-2026 and 100 percent by the end of the year.

He also confirmed that DOTr will submit the requested staffing pattern and organizational structure for the units handling route planning and modernization. (PNA)