Two-day transport strike in Bacolod slated next week

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines - A transport strike will be held on May 16 and 17 in this city by a multi-sector group to be led by the United Negros Drivers Operators Center (UNDOC) calling on the government to take steps to address the disparity in fuel prices in Negros Occidental.

UNDOC's move, announced in a forum last week, was supported by representatives of PISTON, Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), Bayan, and Bayan Muna.

Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Maranon Jr. earlier appealed to the transport sector not to push through with its plans to hold a strike because this will not achieve any concrete results, and will only affect the poor instead.

"I appeal to them not to hold transport strikes. It is only the poor who will suffer from these strikes. I believe they can get nothing from doing this; the situation is still the same. We still have a fuel crisis," Maranon said.

Maranon said he is going to make a study on reducing the fuel price here by putting up a province's own terminal or oil depot so the transport of fuel will have lesser costs.

IBON Foundation head researcher Sonny Africa, who was guest speaker at the forum, alleged that the monopoly of Petron, Shell and Caltex has resulted in high prices of fuel. "The only thing that is keeping prices of fuel high in Negros is that we are allowing oil firms to get away with it," Africa said.

They can afford to lower the cost of fuel and not lose money since they have accumulated hundreds of billions of pesos in profit, he said.

"We should call on the lawmakers to scrap the Oil Deregulation Law and challenge government to come up with measures to control overpricing," Africa said.

The government can remove value added tax to reduce prices of oil and implement transparency against profiteering.

UNDOC secretary-general Jesse Ortega said they will ask the lawmakers of the province to support resolutions of Bayan Muna and that of Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (3rd District) to investigate the price difference, of about P5 per liter, in fuel prices between Negros Occidental and Metro Manila.

Representatives Anthony Golez Jr. (Bacolod), Mercedes Alvarez (6th District) and Ignacio Arroyo Jr. (5th District) have also signified their support to the resolution.

The Bacolod City Council has also passed a resolution requesting the mayor through the city legal officer to file appropriate legal action against all oil firms operating in the city for alleged indiscriminate overpricing of petroleum products in violation of R.A. 8497, or the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998.

He said they will also ask the support of taxi groups and some members of the Federation of Bacolod Drivers Association to join the two-day strike.

Ben Ortega of the Bacolod Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry said if there will be a standstill in transportation, they are willing to close their establishments and not buy gasoline during the strike. They will also meet with business groups on the matter, he said. (FREEMAN)