For thousands of jeepney drivers and transport cooperative members still navigating the bumpy road of public utility vehicle modernization, a familiar face has just moved into a position to help smooth the way.
Jesus Ferdinand “Andy” De Perio Ortega — until recently the government’s point man on road transport policy — has taken his oath as Board Member III of the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), where he will now head the agency’s Public Utilities Cluster.
Ortega took his oath Wednesday at the CDA’s head office in Quezon City, administered by CDA Chairman and Undersecretary Alexander B. Raquepo.
Why this appointment matters to cooperatives
Ortega isn’t new to the transport world. He previously served as Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure at the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and once chaired the Office of Transportation Cooperatives (OTC) — the very office tasked with organizing drivers and operators into cooperatives during the PUV modernization push.
That background matters because it puts someone who has sat on both sides of the table — crafting transport policy and organizing cooperatives on the ground — in charge of the CDA cluster that oversees public utility cooperatives nationwide.
“We are entering a pivotal phase where transport modernization and cooperative strengthening must go hand in hand,” Raquepo said at the ceremony, welcoming Ortega’s cross-agency experience.
What operators and drivers can expect
Ortega said his priority is closing the gap between top-down transport modernization programs and the day-to-day realities of local cooperatives — particularly making sure drivers and operators have real financial and structural support as their sector transitions.
In other words: less policy on paper, more support on the ground for cooperatives absorbing the costs and disruptions of modernization.
Ortega framed his move from DOTr to CDA as a shift in vantage point — from regulating transport cooperatives to championing their welfare from within the cooperative system itself.
For the sector, the appointment signals that the person who once helped write the modernization playbook from the regulator’s side will now help cooperatives implement it from the inside.
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