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.
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