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ILOILO CITY, Philippines ? Transport groups on Panay Island will stage a two-day strike starting on Monday morning to protest the increase in oil prices and fines for traffic violations, one of their leaders said.
The strike led by the Hugpong Transport alliance would significantly affect public transport in the provinces of Iloilo, Aklan, Capiz and Guimaras Island, said Edgar Salarda, one of the convenors of the group.
The strike will start at 12:01 a.m. Monday and will end at 12 a.m. on Wednesday. Around 90 percent of jeepneys in Iloilo province will stop plying their routes, said Salarda, who is also chairman of the Panay chapter of the Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston, United Organization of Drivers and Transport Operators Nationwide).
Most public jeepneys in Iloilo City will also stay off the streets even as some leaders of the Iloilo City Alliance of Drivers Associations (ICADA) declared that they would not join the protest action, he said.
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said he did not foresee any inconvenience to commuters because most of the transport groups in the city decided not to join the protest.
But Treñas said he would order the suspension of the perimeter boundary ordinance, which bars provincial jeepneys from entering the city proper, and allow tricycles and pedicabs to ply the city?s streets to fill in for a possible lack of jeepneys.
Public transportation is also expected to be paralyzed in Aklan, including the capital town of Kalibo, because of the participation of jeepney associations and groups of tricycle drivers within Kalibo, Salarda said, adding jeepney and tricycle drivers in Capiz and Roxas City would also join the strike.
The protesters have asked the Department of Transportation and Communication to put on hold Order 2008-39, which increased fines for traffic violations by 300 percent, up to 9,900 percent, depending on the violation.
Police have been placed on alert for the strike.
Senior Superintendent Ricardo de la Paz, Iloilo police director, said more policemen have been instructed to guard key areas to prevent violence.
