MANILA — The Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (I-ACT) on Thursday assured commuters that it will provide alternative mode of transportation as militant transport group Piston is set to hold a transport strike Monday next week to protest the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).
The traffic council will be activating its Joint Quick Response Team (JQRT) that will monitor areas where Piston is set to launch its protest actions, according to its spokesperson Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board board member Aileen Lizada.
Around 20 private buses will be deployed, together with government vehicles from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and Armed Forces of the Philippines -Joint Task Force National Capital Region (AFP-JTF NCR), to various points of Metro Manila.
The private buses will charge PHP10 for non-airconditioned and PHP12 for airconditioned units. Around 40 policemen will escort the buses.
“LTFRB enforcers as well as HPG (Highway Patrol Group) personnel together with LTO (Land Transportation Office) will be deployed to monitor the areas of engagement where Piston will be gathering,” Lizada said in a text message to reporters.
The JQRT, composed of the LTFRB, MMDA, AFP, PNP, Department of Transportation, Coast Guard, DPWH and Office of Transportation Security, will set its command and control base at the MMDA Metrobase in Makati City.
Piston and the No to Jeepney Phase Out Coalition have earlier said that they would hold protest actions in Metro Manila and in nearby provinces to call for the junking of the PUVMP.
Among the groups’ rally points in the metropolis are Cubao, Monumento, Alabang, Novaliches and Anda Circle in Manila.
Under the PUVMP, transport groups and cooperatives must replace jeepney units that are 15 years old with Euro 4 engines or electrically-powered engines with solar panels for roofs.
These modern jeepneys will also be equipped with closed-circuit television cameras, a GPS navigation system, an Automatic Fare Collection System, speed limiters, dashboard cameras, and Wi-Fi. (Aerol John Pateña/PNA)
