SOME 7,000 policemen will be deployed in Metro Manila to ensure peace and order during the two-day transport strike to be staged by transport groups Piston and Manibela starting today, Monday.
In a radio interview, National Capital Region Police Office Director Maj. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said the NCRPO is ready for the transport strike, adding all the police districts in Metro Manila, including the NCRPO’s Regional Mobile Force Battalion and Special Reaction Unit, have been placed on high alert.
The civil disturbance management teams will be deployed, with Nartatez saying the NCRPO has enough personnel ready to respond.
“In fact, we have policemen for transport escort, mobile patrol, motorcycle patrol, foot patrol, traffic assistance and border control also,” he said.
The two groups are holding a nationwide strike to protest the April 30 deadline for the consolidation of public utility vehicle drivers and operators as part of the modernization program being pushed by the government.
Jeepney operators who fail to meet the consolidation deadline will lose their franchises and must cease plying their routes.
President Marcos Jr. had earlier said the April 30 deadline for PUV operators and drivers to consolidate into cooperatives or corporations as part of the modernization program will not be extended.
“Rest assured that the NCRPO is prepared. In fact, we will be deploying about 7,000 for this protest rally tomorrow, until the transport strike is over,” said Nartatez.
He added the NCRPO would deploy vehicles to provide free rides to commuters who will be affected.
“We also coordinated with local government units and with (the PNP) national headquarters about the free rides for our countrymen who will be stranded,” said Nartatez.
Nartatez appealed to Piston and Manibela to carry out their transport strike in a peaceful manner and hold their program in a freedom park.
He also urged the transport groups not to harass drivers who will not join the transport strike.
“What’s important is we will be able to ensure peace and order and ensure the safety of our countrymen,” said Nartatez.
The protesting groups said they will hold a caravan from Quezon City to Mendiola, Manila.
CODING STAYS
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said it will not suspend the the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program or number coding scheme during the strike.
“The number coding scheme will not be suspended tomorrow, Monday, amid the strike to be conducted by Manibela and Piston,” the MMDA said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“That means the number coding scheme will still be implemented from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and vehicles with plate numbers ending in 1 and 2 that are included in the scheme every Monday will not be allowed on the roads,” the agency added.
MMDA Chairperson Romando Artes previously said the suspension of the number coding scheme adds 20 percent more vehicles on the road, which translates to around 800 more vehicles in EDSA and 400 more in C5.
Artes added the agency is prepared for the transport strike that Manibela president Mar Valbuena said will be participated in by some 30,000 jeepney drivers in Metro Manila and 100,000 nationwide.
“The MMDA is ready, in cooperation with other government agencies and local government units in NCR, to provide free rides to commuters who might be affected,” the MMDA said.
Artes did not say how many vehicles the MMDA would deploy to provide free rides to commuters but the agency and LGUs in Metro Manila deployed more than 600 vehicles of all types in previous transport strikes.
‘CONCRETE SOLUTIONS’
Sen. Imee Marcos called on the government to immediately implement concrete solutions to pending concerns on the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).
Marcos said the government is aware of the issues hounding the PUVMP amid the April 30 deadline, saying a comprehensive consultation with stakeholders “is key to solving festering problems in the stalled modernization push, most importantly, the inability of PUV operators and drivers to afford modern units.”
“We all know the magnitude of the problems…The concerns of various sectors have not been completely addressed. I am calling on the government to conduct consultations with owners, drivers, commuters, and the riding public like the students,” Marcos said in a radio interview last Saturday.
She said the modernization of the transport sector must not come at the expense of drivers whose livelihood depends on traditional jeepneys and the riding public, who are trying to make ends meet amid the rising inflation and high cost of living.
Marcos said merely extending the April 30 franchise consolidation deadline will not address the issues.
“With or without an extension, we cannot force the drivers to comply if we have not solved the problems of buying modern jeepneys. It is also not clear who will be accountable if they have not fully paid the vehicles. All of these should be taken into consideration,” she said. — With Ashzel Hachero and Raymond Africa
