Drivers’ protest fails to disrupt public transport

Drivers converged at the LTFRB – 7 office in Cebu City to express their dismay on the planned modernization of public transportation in the country.
/Junjie Mendoza

Public transportation in Metro Cebu area was unaffected by a transport caravan organized by Pagkakaisa ng Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) – Cebu to protest plans to phase out public utility vehicles 15 years and older.

Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, the city’s deputy mayor on police matters, said they did not get any reports on transport disruption while the Piston caravan was ongoing from 8 a.m. to around 3 p.m.

In Mandaue City, Felix Suico of the city’s command center said they did not get any reports on stranded passengers since most of the public utility jeepneys in the city continued to ply their routes.

But Tumulak and Suico said they continued to monitor progress of the transport caravan which started around 8 a.m.

Wearing their blue polo shirt uniform, around 50 Piston members converged in Barangay Ibabao in Mandaue City as early as 6 a.m.

Greg Perez, Piston-Cebu head, said they were joined by Mandaue City tricycle and PUJ drivers.

“We were only doing a transport caravan. We did not call for paralysis of public transport,” Perez said in Cebuano.
Perez said their activity did not even disrupt traffic flow along their caravan route since protesters were on board their designated vehicles most of the times.

The Piston-Cebu caravan was part of a national caravan to oppose the modernization plans of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

Perez said that around 30 vehicles consisting of PUJs, tricycles, and motorcycles joined their caravan which left Barangay Ibabao in Mandaue City around 8 a.m and headed for Lapu-Lapu City.

Perez said they delivered their protest speeches and gave out handouts to the public in each of their four stops in the cities of Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Cebu and Talisay.

Francisco Ouano, operations head of the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO), said that based on their own monitoring, only 20 vehicles joined the Piston-Cebu caravan which culminated with a rally in front of the LTFRB Central Visayas office around 3 p.m.

Rally participants carried placards and painted the phrase “no to corporatization of transportation” on the cemented road fronting the LTFRB-7 office.

Ahmed Cuizon, LTFRB-7 regional director, said they already heard the drivers’ concerns during a public consultation held in Cebu in March.