PUJ drivers to join protest actions during summit if not given subsidy

Public utility jeepney drivers threatened to shun the streets and join the protest activities during the 12th ASEAN Summit scheduled here next week.

Nagkahiusang Drayber sa Sugbu insisted that government give subsidy to drivers who are plying routes that will be closed to give way to the vehicles of the heads of states who will be attending the summit.

Ruben Rama, NADSU secretary general, said that if the summit's National Organizing Committee does not consider their demands, they will be forced to join the protest rallies and many passengers would be affected.

He cited that in Cebu City alone, 12 routes are considered "ceremonial routes" and would be closed when the summit delegates pass by. And added that most of those that would be affected in Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities are tricycle drivers.

The drivers' call for subsidy was brought up during the dry run on December 1 last year where ceremonial routes for the delegates were closed and PUJ drivers were affected by the closure of roads.

The P3-million subsidy is based on the demand of NADSU that they be given P1,000 a day subsidy per PUJ unit. Of this P1,000, P300 will go to the drivers while the P700 will go to the operators.

Aside from the PUJ drivers, tricycle drivers and operators in Mandaue City are also demanding for a daily subsidy of P500 per unit.

However, the national organizing committee of the ASEAN is not bent on giving in to the demands of the drivers.

Ambassador Marciano Paynor, Secretary General of the NOC of the ASEAN Summit, earlier announced that they have not considered giving subsidy to the public transport drivers affected by the traffic rerouting and closure of some routes.

Antonio Pogado, NADSU chairman, argued that with the postponement of the summit from its original schedule last month, the NOC already had ample time to review their request, but it seems that the organizers have forgotten them.

He also said that the closure of routes during the summit has a very big effect on them citing the dry run last December 1, that was when an estimated 30 to 40 percent of the drivers were not able to ply their routes because the roads were closed to give way to the simulated passing by of vehicles of the heads of states and the delegation for the ASEAN summit.

"We are not agains the summit, but of the anti-people policies of the government. It (government) is giving priority to the summit and the foreigners instead of its own people," Pogado laments. - Wenna A. Berondo/MEEV