Bearing placards, activists converged on strategic points, urging drivers to join the strike.
At about lunchtime, Edwin Belono-ac was still driving his jeepney along Magallanes street. He said it was his “last round,” because he needed to earn a few pesos more before joining the strikers.
Edil Gonzaga, spokesperson of Transmission, said jeepneys picking up passengers along some of the city routes were only a small fraction of the total number of jeepneys which stopped running that day.
Gonzaga pointed out that 300 jeepneys used to ply the Matina-Aplaya route on regular days but only 20-30 jeepneys were seen moving around this route during the strike.
TMC field supervisor Rodelio Maravilla said the TMC office was preparing 50 buses for passengers who may no longer be able to take a ride home. At around noontime, traffic police expected the remaining number of passenger jeepneys to decrease towards the afternoon.
The streets of Davao on the day of the nationwide transport strike. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)
As early as October, Transmission-Piston had planned for the nationwide transport strike on November 26, but postponed it to a later date to give enough time for other regions to prepare.
Gonzaga said it has been two years since the last nationwide transport strike.
Drivers blamed the unhampered oil price hikes on the Oil Deregulation Law or the law that allows oil companies to automatically adjust oil prices according to fluctuations in the world market.
Since the law was approved in 1996, prices of petroleum products have increased by over 535 per cent, said Gonzaga.
“Our strike is meant to awaken the government to the reality that its people, not only the drivers, are bearing the brunt of these increases,” Gonzaga said.
Protesting drivers called for the scrapping of the Oil Deregulation Law and for the government to take control of the oil industry, instead of leaving it out to the hands of the big oil firms.
They also called on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to issue an executive order for a moratorium on oil price hikes and the elimination of the 12 per cent Reformed Value Added Tax or (RVAT) which is also affecting oil prices.
Joel Virador, national executive vice president for partylist Bayan Muna, said the government needs to carry out a National Procurement Program to lessen the impact of high oil prices on the people.
Virador said House Bill 3031, recently filed in Congress by partylist groups Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela, proposed that government buys oil directly from the sources, instead of relegating it to big time oil players, who are controlling the prices.
He also said government may explore a “commodity exchange program” with other oil-producing countries. “The government must nationalize the oil industry. But while it cannot be done yet, something has to be done to alleviate the people’s worsening poverty,” Virador said.
In a rally supporting the nationwide transport strike, groups representing women, urban poor, students echoed the demands of the transport sector, along with the increase in workers’ wages through the approval of the P125 across-the-board wage increase.
“This is not just about protesting the oil price increases,” said Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) Bishop of Davao Delfin Callao during the rally. “This is about defending the dignity of man. The church cannot afford to be silent in the midst of ongoing exploitation.” (Cheryll D. Fiel, davaotoday.com)
