PHILIPPINE STAR/EDD GUMBAN

By Jomel R. Paguian

JEEPNEY drivers and operators protesting the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) will extend their strike until Dec. 29, protesting even on Christmas Day.

Transport group Manibela told BusinessWorld that it intends to stage a protest outside Malacañang on Christmas Day to condemn President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s stance on the modernization program.

“On Christmas, we plan to march in protest up to Malacañang,” said Manibela chairman Mar Valbuena in an interview.

Manibela announced on Friday its coordinated strike with the Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (PISTON) until the government heeds their call to junk the PUVMP and its year-end deadline for franchise consolidation.

“From Monday (Dec. 18) until Dec. 29, our strikes will continue,” said Mr. Valbuena in Filipino.  “Even on Christmas Day, we will not stop.”

PISTON said in a Viber message that Manibela’s announcement is part of their initial plan, and they have yet to announce finalized schemes for the coordinated strikes of the two groups.

Last week, the President affirmed the year-end deadline for franchise consolidation. He cited that 70% of public utility vehicle (PUV) operators had committed to consolidate, stating that striking groups are a “minority.”

But PISTON has asserted that approximately 60,000 jeepney drivers and 25,000 jeepney operators nationwide face impending job loss if the PUVMP pushes through. “Is this the ‘minority’ Marcos Jr. is talking about?” the group said in a statement last week.

Under the PUVMP, operators are mandated to surrender individual franchises for consolidation under a cooperative or corporation serving a specific route to pave the way for the purchase of new public transport vehicles. Striking transport groups argued that the policy is flawed, anti-poor, and favors big businesses.

PISTON started a two-day strike last week, which they claimed to have paralyzed 90% of public transport along major roads in Metro Manila. The group also mounted a protest camp directly outside the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) office in Quezon City.

PISTON said they were invited to a meeting by LTFRB Chairman Teofilo E. Guadiz III on Thursday, but that the Board only emphasized the decision to postpone the franchise consolidation deadline is no longer in its hands because Mr. Marcos has already made his declaration about the matter.

“It is clear that the government of Marcos Jr. shows no concern for the thousands of livelihoods it will potentially jeopardize come January 2024,” said the group in a statement in Filipino.

PISTON also contested the Department of Transportation’s (DoTr) assertion that the strike would not disrupt the transport system. The department argued that only a few PUV drivers and operators participated in the previous strikes, as the majority had already consented to consolidating their franchises.

“Based on our observations in the previous strikes in November, we do not expect that there would be such a large number participating in the transport strike because many transport groups and cooperatives expressed their support for the PUVMP.” DoTr Undersecretary Timothy John R. Batan said in Filipino in an interview with state-funded media PTV on Thursday.

Despite these criticisms, PISTON said that the transport strikes have bear favorable results, citing the increasing public clamor to junk the modernization program. “It is clear in the protests undertaken by PISTON that it garners extensive support and sympathy from the public, especially from drivers and operators who may lose their livelihoods,” PISTON said in Filipino in a Viber message.

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