MANILA, Philippines — At least 100,000 jeepney drivers and operators across the country began their strike on Monday, prompting local governments to offer free rides and some schools to shift to online classes as some transport groups demand President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to stop the planned phaseout of traditional jeepneys.
Protests will be held in Metro Manila, southern Tagalog, Calabarzon, Bicol, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Ilocos region, Bulacan and Baguio City, Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide president Mody Floranda told The STAR newspaper on Sunday.
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In Metro Manila, Floranda said the protest begins at 7 a.m. at the University of the Philippines – Diliman, from there they will form a caravan to the Land Transportation, Franchising and Regulatory Board office, proceed to Delta, then Quezon Avenue and finally to Mendiola in Manila.
Floranda said only an executive order from Marcos scrapping the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines which effectively phase out traditional jeepneys will stop the strike.
Gov’t responds to strike
While Malacañang and the LTFRB said a majority of transport groups in the country will not be joining the strike, Floranda, whose group is joined by Manibela in the stoppage, told The STAR newspaper that “the success of the strike is not measured on the extent of the mobilization, but the legitimate issue that the drivers and operators are presenting.”
Ahead of the strike, Metro Manila mayors have agreed to provide commuters free rides during the weeklong jeepney strike, while Malacañang said the government will mobilize around 106 vehicles to help the riding public.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government, meanwhile, said service patrols of the 1,700 barangays in Metro Manila will be used to ferry passengers affected by the strike.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority has lifted the number coding scheme on the first day of the jeepney strike and announced that it will provide 25 vehicles, including buses to pick up passengers.
Vice President Sara Duterte, who is concurrently education chief, said all schools may hold asynchronous classes during the strike.
What strikers want
Some groups are pushing ahead with their strike despite the LTFRB extending the deadline for individual operators to consolidate under a cooperative or corporation to year-end from June 30 in deference to the Senate which “strongly urged” it to do so in a resolution.
But during a hearing on the looming transport strike last Thursday, senators tried to sway transport officials to not impose a deadline for consolidation as they flagged flaws in the implementation of the modernization program, including the lack of route plans.
Still, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista insisted that there must be a deadline. “It cannot be open-ended because if we don't impose a deadline, no one will follow,” he said in Filipino.
Ultimately, though, what some transport groups want is not just for the deadline to be scrapped, but for the entire phaseout of traditional jeepneys to be abandoned.
"Whatever deadline they give us, it will still be a phaseout," Manibela national president Mar Valbuena said, alleging that the consolidation plan is backed by a big "mafia". He said that even if they had agreed to consolidate "in the end we still need to surrender our franchises."
Under the current PUV Modernization Program, operators must surrender their individual franchises for consolidation into a Fleet Management System, where cooperatives would have to purchase 15 imported minibuses per route. — Xave Gregorio