TRANSPORTATION officials yesterday downplayed the two-day transport strike held by groups opposing the public transport modernization program, saying the public transport system was not disrupted and no commuters were stranded.
The same observation was aired by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the PNP, which said it did not monitor any untoward incident.
The strike, led by the Samahang Manibela Mananakay at Nagkaisang Terminal ng Transportasyon (Manibela) and the Pinag-Isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (PISTON), is expected to continue today, Tuesday.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, in an ambush interview in Malacanang, said his agency and other concerned government offices prepared well for the strike.
Bautista also said that 83 percent of the public jeepneys that supported the public transport modernization program (PTMP) did not participate or support the strike.
“There were a lot who supported our public transport modernization program and the strike did not affect the existing transport system because more than 83 percent supports our program and did not join the strike,” he said.
The PTMP, one of the government’s flagship programs, seeks to revamp the country’s road transportation system by addressing vehicle safety and quality, route network efficiency, and fleet management.
Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) chairman Teofilo Guadiz III, in a briefing in Malacanang, said there were no stranded passengers in any of the areas they monitored.
“First of all, of those said to be stranded, this the regular traffic on a Monday. There are many passengers and few jeepneys because of the traffic. These are regular traffic scenes, the commuters were not stranded,” he said.
Guadiz said the PNP ensured peace and order and prevented the rallyists from pressuring or preventing other drivers from plying their routes.
He said they dispatch vehicles under the Libreng Sakay program to ferry passengers who would be stranded.
MMDA chief Romando Artes said the agency’s Communications and Command Center in Pasig City did not report any major concentration of stranded commuters or any untoward incident.
Artes said he, along with MMDA Deputy Chair Frisco San Juan Jr. and MMDA General Manager Procopio Lipana, monitored the strike early morning yesterday in coordination with other government agencies, local government units and traffic enforcement units.
Artes said the agency, in conjunction with other agencies and Metro LGUs, prepared emergency vehicles and buses to ferry stranded passengers but no major disruption in public transport was monitored or reported by their field units.
In a statement, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said it has not monitored any untoward incident related to the transport strike.
The NCRPO said it monitored rallies in some areas in Metro Manila but the transport strike “did not paralyze public transportation,” adding it deployed vehicles to provide free rides.
“But no stranded commuters were monitored,” the NCRPO said.
“Also, no untoward incidents were monitored during the transport strike,” the NCRPO added.
A report from the NCRPO said nearly 300 members of the transport groups held protest actions in 12 areas in Metro Manila yesterday.
As of 2 p.m. yesterday, the NCRPO said it has not monitored any “significant incident” during the strike.
Police said four of the areas where the protesters held rallies were in Quezon City; two each in Caloocan and Paranaque; and one each in the cities of Muntinlupa, Las Pinas, Pasay and Manila.
The largest rally monitored was held in front of a grocery store in Barangay Dionisio, Paranaque City. Fifty members of Manibela, led by Edilberto Carido, joined the rally which started at 7:29 a.m. and ended at 10:10 a.m.
The smallest rally occurred at the Old City Terminal in Barangay Alabang, Muntinlupa City which was attended by only seven members of Manibela. It began at around 6:21 a.m. and was ongoing as of 2 p.m.
The NCRPO said 5,478 of its personnel were deployed to ensure peace and order during the transport strike.
PISTON PLEA
PISTON pleaded anew to the Supreme Court to act on its petition seeking the issuance of a temporary restraining order to stop the implementation of the public transport modernization program.
In a six-page motion, the group’s national president, Mody Floranda, through lawyer Kristina Conti, cited the several extensions made by the Department of Transportation and LTFRB over the deadline for public utility vehicle operators and drivers to consolidate into cooperatives or corporations as part of the controversial modernization program.
These extensions, the group argued, only proved that the modernization program was “ill-conceived” and “gravely prejudicial to the interest of the transport sector and the public at large.”
Another example that PISTON cited in its plea to prove the program was ill-conceived was the resolution issued by the LTFRB last July 15 allowing unconsolidated PUVs to continue plying their routes in areas where there is low compliance of consolidation.
The resolution, according to the group, covers 2,645 routes around the country.
PISTON noted that the resolution no longer imposed any deadline to comply with the vehicle modernization program.
“While respondents attested in their submissions before this Honorable Court to the purportedly high and successful consolidation rate, the extensions they granted render doubtful and even belie such claims,” PISTON said.
PISTON and other allied groups filed last December a petition asking the SC to declare as null and void several issuances of the DOTr regarding the consolidation and to issue an injunction to prevent it and the LTFR from enforcing the issuances.
PISTON and its allied transport groups sought the temporary injunction citing, among others, the adverse impact on the income and livelihood of PUV operators, drivers and their families and commuters nationwide.
They also argued that the government’s move is “oppressive, overreaching and confiscatory” considering the damage it will bring to the livelihood of ordinary PUV operators and drivers as well as the prohibitive cost of the modern jeepney that will replace the traditional one from P1.4 to P1.7 million to P2.5 to P2.6 million.
They added that government subsidy comes at a measly sum of only P160,000 or 5.7 percent of the total cost of the modern e-jeepney.
SEAMLESS HIGHWAY TRAVEL
Bautista is optimistic that motorists will soon enjoy more convenient and congestion-free travel at expressways after the deferment of the implementation of new tollway rules under Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2024-001 until January next year.
The new rule, supposed to take effect on October 1, imposes fines on motorists without radio frequency identification (RFID) tags or with insufficient funds in their accounts.
Bautista said the DOTr is collating inputs from recent consultation meetings with various tollway stakeholders, including information and profiles of violators which will be used to make any possible amendments to the Joint Memorandum Circular.
He said there is a need for continuous fine-tuning of tollway operations to achieve the ultimate goal of having seamless expressways or “convenient and traffic-less travels at all expressways using cashless toll exits.”
Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) Executive Director Alvin Carullo said the deferment may continue beyond January if the operational system issues remain unresolved.
Carullo said among the operational system issues that need to be addressed include defective RFID tags and readers.
Carullo also said that motorists who seldom use tollways are not required to install an RFID and may instead use the cash lane.
NON-NEGOTIABLE
The DOTr said the call of Piston and Manibela to scrap the implementation of the PUV modernization program is non-negotiable.
“We cannot turn our back to the vast majority of the transport group who understand and subscribe to the transport modernization program. The call of Piston and Manibela to scrap the program is non-negotiable these two groups will not be allowed to derail the program,” said Bautista.
DOTr Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Andy Ortega said “one-third” of the PUV modernization program has been completed, adding the agency is now dealing with the route rationalization or Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP).
Recently, the DOTr and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a three-year technical cooperation project that will help fast-track the implementation of the PUV modernization program. — With Victor Reyes, Ashzel Hachero and Myla Iglesias
