Philippine transport groups yesterday launched a nationwide strike to protest a government program drivers fear would phase out traditional jeepneys, which have become a cultural icon, and other aging public transport vehicles.
However, officials braced with contingencies and deployed government vehicles to transport passengers stranded in some areas. Other groups refused to join the week-long strike that could keep more than 40,000 passenger jeepneys and vans off the streets in the Manila metropolis alone.
Protesting drivers and supporters held a noisy rally in suburban Quezon City in the capital region, then proceeded in a convoy to a government transport regulatory office to press their protest.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We’re calling on the public to support the transport strike in any way possible,” said Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the Bayan political alliance, which is backing the strike.
“The inconvenience of the transport stoppage is temporary, but the loss of livelihood of drivers and operators would be long-term,” Reyes said.
At almost noon, Philippine Secretary of Transportation Jaime Bautista said that no major transport disruption had been monitored.
Morning rush-hour traffic was heavy as usual in major roads in Manila and nearby cities.
“There is no disruption except in a handful of routes in the national capital region,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s office said by noon, citing reports from law enforcers.
Bautista said that protesting drivers who resort to violence and coercion to stop passenger vehicles not joining the strike would face criminal charges.
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, who also serves as education secretary, drew criticism after saying the strike is a communist rebel-inspired action that could inconvenience students.
The government transport modernization program, first launched in 2017, aims to replace dangerously dilapidated and old passenger jeepneys and vans with modern vehicles, which have safety features and conform with carbon emissions standards. Vehicle owners have to join transport cooperatives and corporations by the end of the year for better transport management.
Opponents say most poor drivers cannot afford to purchase new passenger jeepneys, even with promised government financial aid.
“It’s OK to have modernization for those who have money, but for us jeepney drivers and operators, we cannot afford,” jeepney driver Benito Garcia said.
Others said the program would mean the demise of the gaudily decorated and brightly colored jeepneys, which have been regarded as Manila’s “King of the Road” and a showcase of Philippine culture on wheels.
The diesel-powered jeepneys evolved from military jeeps that US forces left behind after World War II. The vehicles were modified and then reproduced, many with second-hand truck chassis, and for decades were the most popular form of land transport among the working class, even though they cough out dark fumes that have been blamed for Manila’s notoriously polluted air.
‘CHINESE ASSET’: The senate cited Bamban Mayor Alice Guo in contempt after a police raid revealed a scam center operating at a facility on land she partially owned The Philippine Senate yesterday threatened to arrest a mayor for contempt during a hearing investigating her alleged ties to Chinese criminal syndicates. The arrest threat came after Bamban Mayor Alice Guo (郭華萍) failed to appear for a second consecutive hearing, citing stress. The case that began in March, when authorities raided a casino in Guo’s farming town of Bamban, has shed light on criminal activity in the mostly Chinese-backed online casino industry in the Philippines. It gained national attention after one senator asked whether Guo might not have been born in the Philippines and could even be a Chinese “asset,” an accusation she
‘DO WHATEVER’: US Representative Nancy Pelosi said on MSNBC the decision was up to Joe Biden, but her lack of a full statement backing him is likely to send a signal The re-election campaign of US President Joe Biden on Wednesday hit new trouble as US Representative Nancy Pelosi said merely “it’s up to the president to decide” if he should stay in the race, celebrity donor George Clooney said he should not run, and Democratic senators and lawmakers expressed fresh fear about his ability to challenge former US president Donald Trump. Late in the evening, US Senator Peter Welch called on Biden to withdraw from the election, becoming the first Senate Democrat to do so. Welch said he is worried because “the stakes could not be higher.” The sudden flurry of pronouncements, despite
‘STARWARS’: The weapons would make South Korea the first country to deploy and operate laser weapons, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said South Korea is to deploy laser weapons to shoot down North Korean drones this year, becoming the world’s first country to deploy and operate such weapons in the military, the country’s arms procurement agency said yesterday. South Korea has called its laser program the “StarWars project.” The drone-zapping laser weapons that the South Korean military has developed with Hanwha Aerospace are effective and cheap, with each shot costing 2,000 won (US$1.45), and also quiet and “invisible,” the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said in a statement. “Our country is becoming the first country in the world to deploy and operate laser weapons, and
US ELECTIONS: US President Joe Biden mistakenly introduced Ukrainian President Zelenskiy as Russian President Vladimir Putin at a NATO summit on Thursday US President Joe Biden vowed he would remain in this year presidential race, but two critical mistakes in the span of two hours deepened concerns about his mental acuity that threaten his campaign. Biden, 81, saw the culmination of this week’s NATO summit as a chance to reassure allies who for two weeks had fretted about his abilities following his first debate performance against former US president Donald Trump. Over a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a nearly hour-long news conference, he spoke confidently on a range of complex issues from the tax code and trade policy to