Perez
AROUND 40 members of the Pagkakaisa ng Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) held a protest rally outside Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB-7) yesterday morning.
Greg Perez, coordinator of Piston Cebu, said their protest rally was in support of their national counterpart who protested the recognition given by the LTFRB central office to five transport groups for not participating in the transport strike last February 27.
“Nagpakita lang sila nga kasabwat sila aning phase-out sa mga 15-year-old nga mga jeep (It only shows that they agree on the phase-out of jeepneys 15 years old or older,” Perez told Cebu Daily News.
The rally started at 10 a.m. yesterday with a walk among Piston Cebu members from a mall in North Reclamation Area to the nearby LTFRB-7 office.
Piston Cebu has been vocal against the phasing out of 15-year-old jeepneys as this would only benefit new players in the transport industry.
Last February 27, at least 700 members of Piston participated in the transport strike in Metro Cebu, but it failed to totally cripple the public transportation.
Perez claimed that they only crippled 80 percent of the public transportation in Metro Cebu.
As claimed by the transport group, jeepneys 15 years old and above will not be granted certificate of confirmation as “for hire” and will not be allowed to continue operating.
They also claimed that based on the draft order from the Department of Transportation, the old jeepneys will be replaced with electric jeepney and brand-new vehicles equipped with global positioning satellite (GPS) and automated fare collection device that will be provided by private corporations accredited with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) under the government’s Fleet Management Program.
Data from the LTFRB-7 revealed that there are 10,000 to 11,000 jeepneys in Cebu, of which 25 percent are already old. /Correspondent Michelle Joy L. Padayhag