EDITORIAL - Strikers want to have their cake and eat it too

Jeepney drivers belonging to a particular group are expected to go on strike again today, their third in a series. Of course, the striking drivers have become a little bit smarter by calling their strike a rally in order to avoid legal complications. But the effect is just the same, which is to cripple transport services in order to dramatize their demands.

But to cripple public transport is to bark up the wrong tree. It is the public that will suffer from the strike, not the government which is the real target of their protest. And what are the drivers protesting against? They are protesting a new government order increasing penalties for traffic violations. Most people, of course see things differently from the drivers.

To the jeepney drivers, higher penalties for the traffic violations are oppressive. Most other people do not see it that way, though. Most other people are not afraid of higher penalties for traffic violations. Most other people know that if they simply follow traffic rules, no violations are going to be committed. And when no violations are committed, there will be no penalties imposed.

Jeepney drivers are not the only drivers on the road. But it is only the jeepney drivers who are complaining. Why? Because they are the ones who are abusive and think they own the road. Any cursory check of the records will show that the greatest number of violations is committed by jeepeney drivers. What the jeepney drivers really want it to be left alone to commit violations left and right without having to be bothered by the consequences.

In other words, the jeepney drivers want to have their cake and eat it too. Other drivers are not joining the protest and it is easy to see why. The protests will not solve the problem and will only inconvenience the riding public that has nothing to do with the new penalties. If the jeepney drivers want to really have a fighting chance against the new rules, they should go to court. But they know they cannot win their fight even there.

The only way they know how is to take matters into their own hands. But even in taking matters into their own hands, the protesting jeepney drivers are still pathetically hopeless and inadequate. A jeepney strike for a day will not change things. If these jeepney drivers really want to make their protest produce results, they should do it the way they do it in other places.

Strikers in other lands do not strike for only a day. They are prepared, and have in fact been known, to strike for longer periods. Many have struck for at least a month. And almost always, these long strikes produced the desired results. But why are these strikers in other lands prepared to strike for so long? Because they know their causes are just and are prepared to stand for what is right. When you are a constant violator, you have no right to protest against penalties.