Transport groups plan nationwide strike

CEBU, Philippines - Various transport groups will gather today to discuss the possibility of holding a nationwide strike should the government fail to listen to their plea not to carry out the phasing out of 15-year-old jeepeys.

“Mahinayon man gyud ang nationwide strike kung di gyud maminaw ang gobyerno namo,” said Romeo Armamento, vice president of the National Confederation of Transportworkers Union-Central Visayas.

Armamento said that as early as now, they will create noise as the Department of Transportation and Communication plans to phase out public utility jeepneys that are already more than 15 years old.

Armamento said that based on the draft copy of the memorandum of DOTC, the phase out will start by January 2016 until 2018.

“Wa gani gihisgutan kung unsaon ang transition ug unsa sad ang matabang sa gobyerno sa mga drivers nga mawagtangan og panginabuhi-an,” he said.

Armamento said that all jeepneys will be phased out should the DOTC order push through.

“Kay tanan mga jeepneys di man brand new. Og ilaha gyud ng ipatuman, aw hurot tanang mga jeepneys apil na dinhi sa Cebu,” he said.

Armamento said that with the severity of the problem, all transport groups, including militant transport group, must unite.

 “Mao na ni ang panahon nga magkahiusa gyud ang tanang transport groups. Di na mi mag kanya-kanya ani,” he added.

Earlier, Ryan Benjamin Yu, general manager of CITRASCO, said that the government cannot just phase out jeepneys immediately.

Yu said that jeepneys remain to be the number one mode of mass transportation and the Philippines has no assembly line that manufactures brand new jeepneys in bulk.  Yu said an estimated 300,000 jeepney units all over the country will be phased out if the order is implemented.

Rey Elnar, regional director of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-7, said that so far, the DOTC memorandum to phase out 15-year-old jeepneys has not yet been released. —(FREEMAN)