EDITORIAL - Transport strikes no longer effective

The strike staged by some transport organizations to protest the legality of the controversial Joint Administrative Order of the government failed to paralyze Metro Cebu's vehicular traffic last Tuesday.

This after many local transport groups opted not to join the event. Those that we usually see hitting the streets to condemn pump price increases did not show up, saying they just wanted to wait for the decision of the agencies reviewing the order.   

Only members of Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide-Cebu and the Alliance of Transport Organization Members Intra-Cebu marched to the offices of concerned government agencies to denounce the JAO, which they claim as draconian and should be stopped.

Today, as a result of the protest, local transport leaders will meet with representatives from the Cebu City government for a dialogue over the order. The groups are also seeking from the Department of Energy a P6 fuel subsidy and the removal of the 12 percent value-added tax for fuel.

Good thing last Tuesday's transport protest did not make any major impact on the riding public in Metro Cebu. There were enough public utility jeepneys available for commuters, except in few routes.

Still, authorities have put in place measures to control the situation. The City Traffic Office Management had readied buses along major thoroughfares to assist stranded commuters.

But the fact that the latest transport strike failed to make any dent for lack of cooperation from other groups only showed that some of them are already tired of using the streets for their demands.

Some of these groups seem to have realized the fact that transport strikes are no longer an effective solution to their concerns. That is because, every time they stage a strike, these transport groups do not really accomplish anything substantial except for just causing delay to the riding public.

Of course, transport strikes are absolutely legal if played around the rule of law. But they do not translate to anything if their only purpose is to cause displacement of the riding public.

There are proper venues that protesting transport groups can resort to. And the best way to contest JAO's legitimacy is in court, not in the streets.