Cebu jeepney drivers to join nationwide strike Thursday

Transport groups will launch a nationwide strike tomorrow as their way of calling for the scrapping of the Expanded Value Added Tax or eVAT and the oil deregulation law.

Drivers, workers and urban poor organizations from at least 14 cities and municipalities have already signified their interest to join the protest.

In Cebu, the members of the Alliance of Transport Operators Member Intra-Cebu City or ATOMIC will stop plying their routes starting at 3 a.m. and hope to paralyze the transport system in major routes in the city. The group's officials said the strike might last until the afternoon. The group claims membership of over 1,000 jeepney drivers that ply the major routes in the city.

The group would also put up eight "choke points" or protest areas in the city that would be manned by people from the various sectors spearheading the protest. These choke points would be located at Plaza Independencia, Gaisano Metro-Colon, P. Del Rosario St., Mambaling, B. Rodriguez St., V. Rama Ave., N. Bacalso Ave., and Parian. ATOMIC president Rudy Laconza said they are still negotiating with other groups like the Nagkahiusang Drayber sa Sugbo (NADSU) and the Alyansa sa Nagkhiusang Drayber Alang sa Reporma (ANDAR) and taxi operators to get more numbers to join their cause and be able to totally paralyze the transport system in the city.

Other areas and provinces that would join the nationwide protest are National Capital Region, Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Ozamiz, Zamboanga, General Santos, Iligan and Davao. According to Laconza, he had a meeting with the leaders of transport groups and federations from these places last September 19. Their umbrella organization, the National Transport Union, has promised to reach out to other groups to encourage them to join the strike.

"We need more to join to have a bigger participation to deliver a strong message to the national government that we are against the implementation of eVAT because the drivers are the ones who are affected most because of the high prices of gasoline," he said.

NADSU chairman Antonio Pogado yesterday said that they have not decided whether their group would join the strike or not. He added that he still has to meet with his members to finalize their plan. NADSU claims to have a membership of 7,000 or majority of jeepney drivers in the city.

Aside from the drivers, workers groups and urban poor organizations also announced that they would join the protest to call for the repeal of the Republic Act 9337, popularly known as eVAT.

Vangie Abejo, Labor Power Council secretary general, said that their members who are working at the Mactan Economic Zone in Lapu-Lapu City would also join them in the protest tomorrow.

In Lapu-Lapu City, 300 multicab drivers would be joining the strike. Choke points would be put up at the old and new Mandaue-Mactan bridges, near the city hospital, in Basak, and Marigondon and all roads that are going to the MEPZ I and MEPZ II.- Wenna A. Berondo