Transport groups eye nationwide strike Monday

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Transport groups across the country are set to stage a nationwide strike on Monday amidst the suspension of a fare hike, the organizer announced on Friday.

The unified transport sector is led by the Liga ng mga Transportasyon Operators ng Pilipinas (LTOP), National Transport Cooperatives (NTC), and the Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association (TODA).

The strike is expected to involve traditional jeepneys, modern public utility vehicles, tricycles, taxicabs, motorcycle taxis, provincial buses, truckers, and transport cooperative units across Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and Metro Manila.

Orlando Marquez Sr., LTOP national president, said in a radio interview that the groups were dismayed over the reported cancellation of the previously approved fare increase of ₱1 for traditional public utility vehicles and ₱2 for modernized buses.

Marquez also confirmed that TODA federations nationwide are expected to join the strike despite ongoing government assistance programs.

Aside from fare adjustments, the groups are also calling for an increase in government cash assistance for drivers. Marquez said they are pushing for ₱10,000 per driver, higher than the ₱5,000 aid earlier proposed.

Meanwhile, transport groups in Northern Mindanao will no longer join the scheduled nationwide strike on Monday, as they will not ply their routes due to the rising cost of fuel triggered by the Middle East crisis.

Luzminda Escobido, President of the Northern Mindanao Transport Cooperatives, said that as of Friday, the cost of diesel in the region has reached ₱100 per liter and is expected to increase daily, making their trips unprofitable.

She said long-distance bus routes, which used to generate at least ₱20,000 per day, have been reduced to only ₱10,000 minus the maintenance salaries of employees.

“Instead of joining nationwide, it was decided that we will cease operation, ‘transport Pahulay’ (rest) to prevent more losses,” she said.

Earlier, The Masa Sara Duterte Alliance (MASADA) decried what it called the “laban bawi policy of the government in addressing the economic crisis triggered by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.”

MASADA, in a statement, said the suspension of the fare hike already approved by the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the lack of a master list of beneficiaries of the promised ₱5,000 assistance to drivers and operators are now sowing confusion among transport groups and commuters.

It said the fare increase matrix approved by LTFRB, which was supposed to take effect starting Thursday, was expected to coincide with the distribution of the ₱5,000 fuel subsidy, but the LTFRB has no existing list of the qualified beneficiaries to receive the fuel subsidy.

The list used in the initial distribution in the National Capital Region came from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).