Transport strike starts today

Monday, May 16, 2011

THE transport and business sectors in Bacolod and Negros Occidental will proceed with its two-day strike starting Monday despite appeals made by some local officials.

Jessie Ortega, secretary general of United Negros Drivers and Operators Center (UNDOC), said public transport vehicles will stop plying their respective routes at 7 a.m. up to 6 p.m. Monday and at 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday.

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At 2 p.m. on Tuesday, the drivers and other participants will converge at the Fountain of Justice in front of the Old City Hall for a rally.

The drivers with the business sector in the province, along with the truckers and sugar planters, will bring up during their protest the continued inaction of the government about the fuel price disparity where petroleum products in the province are higher than in other provinces, the temporary scrapping of the 12 percent Expanded Value Added Tax (Evat) on petroleum products, the scrapping of the oil deregulation law and for the government to ensure transparency in the pricing formula of the oil companies.

Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra issued a statement last Friday calling for support to the two-day transport strike.

Navarra condemned the oil companies who allegedly continue to take advantage of the fuel crisis, despite the billions of pesos they are raking out of their businesses.

Fuel prices have gone down anew last week at P2 per liter for diesel and kerosene and P1.25 for gasoline.

Meanwhile, Ortega said they are not convinced yet with the recent rollback imposed by oil companies and that they are expecting bigger rollbacks after the transport strike.

Some business establishments in the city, especially those proprietors belonging to the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), will close shop Monday.

Ortega said other establishments who may open their businesses today have pledged to put streamers outside their establishments signifying their support for the cause of the drivers and the transport sector.

Members of the Negros Truckers Association, headed by planter Luis Mirasol, will also go on strike for two days.

On the other hand, Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. said Monday and Tuesday will be normal working days for Capitol employees.

The employees are expected to be at office early, as they also have to attend the regular flag ceremony every Monday.

Marañon last week appealed to the transport sector to call off the transport strike as he found it to be counter-productive.

The same appeal was also made Saturday by third district Representative Albee Benitez.

“I would go with Governor Marañon, as the drivers and everybody in the province should have to wait. We will get to the bottom of this issue and we will really find out soon why our fuel prices here are much higher than in other provinces,” Benitez said.

Benitez earlier filed a resolution at the House of Representatives calling for the investigation on the fuel price disparity here.

“If they are sending the message to us, we have heard it. That’s why I filed a resolution so that we could come up with a solution,” he added.

Benitez expects that the House committee on energy will take up Monday his resolution. He said he saw the urgency for the concern to be addressed the soonest possible time because the price difference has an effect for the drivers and even for private vehicle owners here.

Benitez also appealed to the drivers not to be over reactive, not to be emotional. Rather, they should look at the matter objectively, he advised.

Ortega, on the other hand, condemned party-list 1-Utak for their influence over Febacda and Action Inc. that decided not to join in the two-day transport strike.

He said they have found out that 1-Utak is a collaborator of the Department of Energy and the group is pushing for the conversion of vehicles to use LPG because they are allegedly supplying the LPG stocks.