Two-Day Strike Paralyzes Transport, Freezes LTO Order

A two-day transport strike paralyzed transportation in Negros Island particularly Bacolod City late last week and cost business establishments millions of pesos in losses. The strike brought drivers and vehicle operators together and gained the support not only of militant groups but also local executives and civil organizations.

By Karl G. Ombion 
Bulatlat.com/Cobra-Ans

BACOLOD CITY - Public transportation grounded to a halt and business establishments, schools and other offices shut down as drivers and bus and jeepney operators held a two-day Negros-wide transport strike last week.

The strike, held Feb. 20-21 and led by the United Negros Driver and Operators Center (Undoc)-Piston, paralyzed 95 percent of public and private transportation in Bacolod City and turned business operations quite abnormal with some establishments declaring millions of losses, latest reports said.

In an apparent move to preempt the strike, Land Transportation Office (LTO) head Roberto Lastimoso last Feb. 20 ordered the temporary suspension of SET pending results of public hearings. But his directed proved to be too late.

The strike was mounted in protest of the new rounds of oil price hikes and the imposition of the Smoke Emission Test (SET), a key provision of the Clean Air Act, that was first enforced in Metro Manila two years ago. Striking drivers and operators from Undoc-Piston and Transport Unity Forum (TUF) denounced the double whammy as “oppressive, exploitative and unjust.”

The two-day strike was also backed by members of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), the National Federation of Sugar Workers-Kilusang Mayo Uno (NFSW-KMU) and urban poor alliance Kadamay. Also taking part were the Federation of Bacolod Drivers Association (FEBACDA), truckers associations, city and provincial officials, civic organizations and almost all major schools, colleges and universities in Negros.

Jessie Ortega, Undoc-Piston secretary general, slammed the Macapagal-Arroyo government for the continued increases in prices of oil products, saying that all these are tantamount to a “declaration of war against the people.”

Bayan-Negros leaders, meanwhile, decried the premature implementation of SET and “other oppressive impositions” on the transport sector saying that these have brought more harm than good to the public.

“We are not against the Clean Air Act per se,” Bayan-Negros said in a statement reiterating Undoc’s stand. “What we’re opposing is the way government makes the lowly masses shoulder a responsibility that is not supposed to be theirs. Why does it have to burden the drivers with more fees?”

Barely surviving

Bebot Santillan, another transport leader, said that drivers are barely surviving from beatings they get from the oil deregulation law, road users tax, seat belt law, drug testing law, numerous exorbitant franchise fees and penalties for minor violations.

“Now they want us completely dead through SET and another round of oil price hikes,” he said.

Santillan said SET is supposed to be part of state service to ensure clean environment because drivers and operators, along with the commuters, pay taxes for pay legislators, traffic enforcers and equipment and other services. “Yet government passes on (SET) charges to us commuters and consumers who could barely cope any longer with the ceaseless hikes in the prices of basic goods and services,” he said.

What is deplorable, Santillan said, is the fact that the franchise for SET tests is given by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DoTC) and LTO to only one private corporation, the Bacolod Emission Testing Corporation (BETCO).

Ortega, on the other hand, said that SET is a form of “broad daylight hold-up,” saying the charge rates – P250 for public utility vehicles, P330 for private cars and P440 for trucks – are exorbitant and unjust.

He also questioned why SET was being implemented even before public hearings on the issue could be held.

Rep. Monico Puentebella, who intervened to avert further confrontations between DoTC-LTO and the strikers, initiated public hearings to begin on Feb. 24.

Undoc-Piston described the strike as generally peaceful except for an alleged harassment and death threat against a group of striking drivers by a police official. Bulatlat.com / Cobra-Ans

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