Manila, Oct. 13 -- Teofilo Guadiz III on Monday vowed to end the artificial shortage of public utility vehicles (PUV) on key routes after officially taking the helm of the Office for Transport Cooperatives (OTC).

In a statement on Monday, Guadiz said his immediate priority is to "restore the full operational capacity of transport cooperatives and ensure that commuters are no longer burdened by the lack of available rides."

To this effect, Guadiz announced a high-level consultation with leaders of transport cooperatives on Wednesday.

"My task is to remove every obstacle preventing our cooperatives from putting their vehicles back on the road," he said.

The meeting aims to identify bottlenecks in deployment, financing, and route managem...