Raquel Arce, Cebu City Transportation Office chief, says buses are being readied if the transport groups here will change their mind and join the nationwide strike. | CDNDigital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Free transport rides will be provided to commuters here on Monday, March 6 should groups push through with their plans of holding a transport strike.
Raquel Arce, head of the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO), said they were prepared to deploy several Kaohsiung and city-owned green buses in case a transport strike would occur.
“Nainform mi nga walay transport strike dinhe sa Cebu, unya magmini rally ra ang transport groups pero nangandam ta in kaso malahi ilahang desisyon,” Arce told CDN Digital in a phone interview.
(We were informed that there is no transport strike here in Cebu and the transport groups will only hold a mini rally but we are still preparing just in case their decision will change.)
As to the number of buses being prepared, Arce said she had yet to receive the final figures.
“Pero gisigurado na sa atong city government nga naay buses giandam,” she added.
(But we at the city government are sure that there are buses being readied.)
Should public transportation here gets paralyzed on Monday, Arce also advised commuters to inform their offices so they could deploy free buses and ferry stranded passengers in their area.
In Metro Manila, drivers and operators of public utility jeepneys (PUJs) will hold a transport strike starting this Monday to oppose the government’s plans to phaseout traditional jeepneys.
Here in Cebu, at least six transport groups will also be conducting a strike but for a different reason: calling for the director of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB-7) to step down.
Other groups like PISTON-Cebu will not go on a strike. Instead, they will hold rallies in downtown and uptown Cebu City in support of their fellow jeepney drivers and operators in the capital.
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