CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) in Region 10 is readying measures for a protest that could escalate into a transport strike on Wednesday here.
LTFRB-10 Director Aminoden Guro said they are not taking chances although the local chapter leader of Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston) has assured that the group will merely hold a picket, and not a full-blown transport strike.
Guro said the agency will be deploying standby buses on Wednesday to fetch stranded passengers, should the protest action turn into a full-blown transport strike.
Guro said Starex-Piston chair Ringo Lago has assured him that the picket will only consist of around 100 individuals in front of LTFRB-10 office in Brgy. Bulua, here.
He also warned that any jeepney operator who is proven to intentionally not ply on Wednesday will face P5,000 penalty for “abandonment of service”, based on an LTFRB memorandum that stipulates the terms and conditions in the issuance of certificates of public convenience.
For his part, Lago said the picket will only be in the morning and that the participants will be representing not just the transport sector but other civic and religious organizations as well.
LTFRB is in the process of implementing the public utility vehicles modernization program, phasing out jeepneys which could not pass road worthiness.
Guro said under the program, jeepneys will be meticulously inspected from the functionalities and qualities of each part of the vehicle such as lights, seats and even handrails.
Piston and other transport groups are protesting the jeepney modernization, sating that it would hurt majority of the jeepney operators and drivers in the provinces.
Lago said the government could have ordered the jeepney operators to just overhaul their jeepneys instead of phasing them out entirely. (Mark D. Francisco/PNA)
