Coding scheme stands amid transport strike

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Sunday announced that the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) will not be lifted on Monday amid the looming nationwide transport strike.

In a statement, the MMDA said that number coding scheme will be implemented from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Vehicles with plate numbers ending in 1 and 2 will not be allowed to use the roads.

This comes after transport groups Samahang Manibela Mananakay at Nagkaisang Terminal ng Transportasyon (Manibela) and Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (PISTON) said that they will hold a nationwide transport strike on 15 and 16 April to protest the deadline for consolidation of public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers and operators.

Manibela president Mar Valbuena said they expect some 30,000 jeepney drivers to join the protest in the the National Capital Region and at least 100,000 others to join nationwide.

They are opposing the PUV consolidation of individual franchises into cooperatives or corporations, which is called for under the government’s PUV modernization program. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said there would be no extension of the 30 April deadline for consolidation.

The Magnificent 7, a group of seven transport groups, however said they will not join the two-day strike.

Meantime, Mody Floranda, PISTON national president, said that the disruption to the commuting public will be felt as early as 9 a.m.

While Floranda clarified that they are not against modernization of PUVs, they are opposing some of the regulations of the PUVMP which covers franchises, ownership of new vehicles, the companies where the said vehicles will be bought from and the structure of the cooperatives they are being required to join in order for them to continue operating.

“The government claims they will study allowing local jeepney manufacturers, but they haven’t even released an Executive Order on Philippine Standard Compliance,” Floranda said.

“PISTON is open to talks on cooperatives. The Department of Transportation (DoTr) and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) even said that in a cooperative, the unit and the franchise should still be under the name of the operator who is already a member of the cooperative,” he added.

In other developments, LTFRB chairperson Teofilo Guadiz III downplayed the planned two-day transport strike.