Strike fails to paralyze public transportation

CEBU, Philippines - The transport strike staged by militant organizations yesterday failed to attain its goal of paralyzing the city.

The failure of the transport groups to do so has been credited to the readiness of the local governments and the police to deal with the situation.

The strike backed by more than ten militant and transport groups failed to come up with the projected more than a thousand rallyists and to paralyze public transportation between 90 to 100 percent.

Checkpoints, beat patrols, and mobile patrols were placed in strategic areas especially those that have been identified as where rallyists would gather.

Police Regional Office-7 Director Lani-O Nerez said that the deployment of personnel is also in connection with their security plan for the president’s state of the nation address.

The police also said that the whole Central Visayas was generally peaceful yesterday despite the rallies.

Cebu City Police Office Director Patrocinio Comendador said that policemen from the Fuente Station were deployed to the area near a mall in their area due to reports that some strikers harassed drivers, who continued to ply their routes. 

Comendador said that there was a noticeable decrease in the number of public utility jeepneys passing Gen. Maxilom Ave. while he also reported a 50 percent drop in the number of PUJs to Guadalupe and a 20 percent decrease in Talamban.

Nick Igot, Anakpawis spokesperson, said that there were around 500 to 600 who joined their rally at Colon Street that started with a march at 1 p.m.

They also claimed to have paralyzed the public transportation by 80 percent, which the City Traffic Operations and Management (CITOM) denied.

Apart from Nagkahiusang mga Drayber sa Sugbo (Nadsu) that constituted the transport group, the militant groups who joined the rally according to Igot were Anakpawis, Anakbayan, Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), Promotions of Church People’s Response (PCPR), Karapatan, Supak Cha-Cha, and Partido ng mga Manggagawa.

City Transport

The City Disaster Coordinating Council (CDCC) yesterday deployed 17 buses at the early part of the day without waiting for affected commuters to find it hard to get a ride.

Committee on Transportation head Councilor Sylvan “Jack” Jakosalem said that they did this to make sure that the commuters would not have to wait long for a ride.

“Yes it may seem to appear that we are competing with jeepneys who are in their normal operations, but we also find the need to deploy the vehicles earlier to avoid inconvenience,” Jakosalem said.

He said the strike had a minimal effect within the city citing the area in V. Rama as the most affected.

CDCC head Councilor Gerardo Carillo for his part said he received a report from CITOM chief Arnel Tancinco that they were able to apprehend jeepneys yesterday morning.

He said the violations of the jeepneys were not strike related, but mainly because these were illegally parked.

Carillo said other than the city buses four barangays also deployed their vehicles to help ferry commuters.

These were the vehicles of Tinago, Labangon, Toong and Guadalupe.

CDCC also monitored peace and order situation for the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) as well as the anniversary parade of the Inglesia ni Cristo (INC).

Half Day Work

Several government offices announced half day of work for its employees due to the strike.

Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Meinrado Paredes announced a half day work for RTC employees including that of the City Prosecutor and Provincial Prosecutor’s office yesterday that they may be able to get home early due to the strike. — Niña G. Sumacot, Ferliza C. Contratista, Jasmin R. Uy and Mitchelle P. Palaubsanon/NLQ   (THE FREEMAN)