Metro Cebu LGUs brace for transport strike

Piston-Cebu head Greg Perez speaks during drivers protest held in front of LTFRB-7 office.

The city governments of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Talisay and Cebu have finalized arrangement to ensure there will be enough vehicles to ferry commuters expected to be stranded in today’s transport strike spearheaded by the Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston).

The strike is expected to affect mostly routes in Mandaue City with 200 tricycle drivers under the Tricycle sa Mandaue group also joining the strike meant to protest the phase out of public utility jeeps (PUJs) 15 years old and above.

The National Confederation of Transport Workers Union with 2,500 members and the Cebu Integrated Transport Service Multipurpose Cooperative (Citrasco) with more than 1,000 jeepneys, said they would not join the strike.

Piston’s nationwide “Tigil Pasada” will start at 4 a.m. until 3 p.m. followed by a protest rally in front of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Central Visayas (LTFRB-7) office at the North Reclamation Area in Cebu City.

Classes were ordered suspended in the public elementary and pre-school levels in Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities and in all levels in Talisay City. There will be classes in Cebu City.

Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis “Luigi” Quisumbing, on his Facebook page on Sunday, said he decided to suspend classes in public pre-schools and elementary schools in order to “minimize whatever risk riding in larger vehicles may pose to the thousands of pre-school and elementary students that will be returning to school” today, “given the trucks, buses and other large vehicles that the city may deploy to assist stranded commuters.”

Glenn Antigua, head of the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM), said that starting at 5 a.m. today, five L300 vans and three pickup vehicles will provide free rides to stranded commuters while a coaster will be on standby in case the deployed vehicles are not enough.

“We can also ask the barangay officials to use their barangay vehicles to ferry passengers in case more are needed,” he added.

Greg Perez, chair of Piston Cebu, affirmed Mandaue City will be mostly affected because of the decision of the tricycle drivers to join the strike. The affected routes include those in Barangays Paknaan, Cabancalan and Hernan Cortes.

Talisay City Mayor Eduardo Gullas also announced on Sunday the suspension of classes via his Facebook page.

“NO CLASSES on MONDAY for the City of Talisay ON ALL LEVELS due to Nationwide Transport Strike,” he said.

Hazel Sevilleno, the information officer of Talisay City government, said three Talisay City Hall buses will be deployed today to assist commuters.

“We will also tap the barangays which have bus units for possible deployment in case shortage of vehicles will be experienced,” Sevilleno said.

Ahmed Cuizon, head of the LTFRB in Central Visayas, said they have assigned at least 20 bus units for Cebu City and five each for Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities to ferry stranded commuters. These buses will collect a P10 fare from each passenger.

“These buses are issued special permits allowing them to travel out-of-line from the regular routes. Dispatching will be done by the respective LGUs (local government units),” Cuizon told Cebu Daily News.

The riding public can immediately identify the assigned public utility buses because of white stickers from LTFRB-7, he added.

In Cebu City, Department of Education (DepEd) Schools Division superintendent Bianito Dagatan said that since classes will not be suspended in the city, students who will be late for their classes will be given consideration.

Fifteen Cebu City-owned Kaohsiung buses will also be deployed along with 15 Ceres buses and 120 Vans-for-Hire (V-Hire), according to Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) operations chief Francisco Ouano.

Rides on the city buses will be free of charge but the V-Hires, like the Ceres buses, will charge P10 per passenger.

Ouano said the city’s preparations were finalized during a meeting with Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, the LTFRB and other stakeholders at City Hall yesterday.

The Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO), from its command center, will closely monitor today’s strike and coordinate the deployment of vehicles in areas where stranded passengers are noted.

“The jeepney drivers have every right to protest, but we also have an obligation to make sure the Cebuanos can go to work and to school. So tomorrow (today), V-hires and buses will be on standby to fill in for any jeepney route that is not catered to,” Osmeña said in a post on his Facebook page on Sunday.