AT least two groups of jeepney drivers and operators have announced their plan to stage a three-day strike to coincide with the second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on July 24.
The restive transport workers are officials and members of the groups MANIBELA and PISTON, both left-leaning organizations which led the last jeepney strike in March which they abruptly ended because they said Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista promised to meet with them to discuss the 2017 Omnibus Franchising Guidelines which they were then protesting. These strikers should thank government for its promise which they readily accepted, otherwise they would have to end the protest for sheer lack of warm bodies taking up the cause.
The Omnibus Franchising Guidelines, a policy of the Department of Transportation imposed in 2017, aims to replace traditional jeepneys with more modern and bigger vehicles that are environmentally friendly, using fuels and engines that are compliant with European standards of internal combustion engines and emissions.
‘The jeepney sector has to realize that much of its power and influence in society has steadily disappeared because of the growth of other transportation options…’
The protesters insisted that these modern jeepneys costing P2.8 million per unit are well above the reach of ordinary drivers and operators. Thus, their basic demand is for the government to trash the guidelines and allow the operation of the old and traditional jeepneys.
The supposedly week-long “tigil pasada” strike last March was prompted by the government’s ultimatum that individual operators of traditional jeepneys would not be permitted to operate after June 30, 2023 unless they form a cooperative or a corporation. The deadline was later moved to December 31, but the jeepney sector remained adamant, insisting on their position that the government withdraw the jeepney modernization program.
Mar Valbuena, MANIBELA president, said the President had promised them that the government will study the revision of the highly controversial modernization program. He added it has been five months since that assurance and no study had been made, and nobody from their group has been invited to a meeting or dialogue on the issue.
PISTON president Mody Floranda reiterated their group has been vocal in its opposition to the jeepney phaseout. They want the junking of the DOTr department order imposing the change and want the return of five-year franchises for jeepneys.
Much as we want to commiserate with the plight of poor jeepney drivers, it seems another three-day transport strike at this time will fizzle out just like that one in March.
The jeepney sector has to realize that much of its power and influence in society has steadily disappeared because of the growth of other transportation options — the light rail system, taxicabs, Grab and Angkas, point-to-point buses, EDSA carousel buses, and several others.
Sooner or later, the jeepney which had been the icon of a past era, will have to make way for its modern and efficient version, as the country competes with other economies in the region for growth and investments. Yes, there will be transport workers to be hit by the change, and so it is the supreme duty of the government to find ways on how they could fit in in the modern world.
