The Department of Transportation (DoTr) is evaluating the legal consequences of the two-day transportation strike staged by two transport groups, which resulted in traffic gridlock.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista on Tuesday said the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will study if the protesters could be held liable for violations such as obstructing traffic.

The DoTr’s attached agencies tapped the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and Philippine National Police to help with the review.

“What we saw was an obstruction, which caused traffic. They have a right to fight for their rights, but the traveling public should not be affected,” Bautista said.

“They were successful in creating traffic jams, but we were able to prove that the government is ready to address transport issues,” he added.

The transport groups staged a two-day strike to protest the government’s Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).

Members of the Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide and the Samahang Manibela Mananakay at Nagkaisang Terminal ng Transportasyon trooped to the Welcome Rotonda at the boundary of Quezon City and Manila on Monday and Tuesday. Some stayed there overnight.

Piston claimed that 80 percent of major routes in Metro Manila, including parts of Cavite and Laguna, were paralyzed. In comparison, Bacolod City experienced 90 percent paralysis on the first day of the strike alone.

Free rides

Bautista, however, said the protest was “unsuccessful” due to the government’s mitigation efforts, such as deploying vehicles to give commuters free rides.

LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz III also downplayed the impact of the transport strike as the national government and Metro Manila local executives provided free rides to commuters.

“No sir, it was business as usual for commuters,” Guadiz told DAILY TRIBUNE when asked about the effect of the transport strike on commuters.

However, he said, the protest caravan from the University of the Philippines Diliman campus to the LTFRB central office on East Avenue and Malacañang caused traffic jams.

“Yes, when they failed to cripple the public transport, they created a traffic mess,” Guadiz said.

Worth the sacrifice

Jeepney drivers and operators have expressed their opposition to the PUVMP and have undertaken protest actions to make their voices heard.

The drivers and operators consider their protest a sacrifice to show their opposition to the program.

This after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has stood firm on the 30 April deadline for the PUV consolidation, stressing that he would not extend it after he had done so once before.

The jeepney operators have been urged to take advantage of the final extension. Failure to consolidate under cooperatives or corporations by the deadline would result in the revocation of their franchises.