POLICE in Cebu went on heightened alert beginning 5 p.m. yesterday in preparation for the boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Mexican David Diaz today and the planned transport strike tomorrow.
The Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 has ordered all units to intensify intelligence-gathering and to strengthen security measures on “vital installations and key economic areas.”
The Cebu Provincial Police Office also directed stations to advise all members of civil disturbance management teams to be ready for deployment during the transport strike.
The Nagkahiusang Drayber sa Sugbo (Nadsu) is set to stage a transport strike tomorrow to protest rising prices of commodities and petroleum products. A transport official, however, dismissed the group’s capability to stage a massive strike.
Senior Supt. Drusillo Bolodo, deputy regional director for operations, said they have already identified choke points in Consolacion town and Tabunok, Talisay City. These areas, he said, are usually where protesting drivers try to intimidate others into joining them.
The Land Transportation Office, he said, has tapped some bus companies to fill in for affected routes.
The initial list includes Ceres, Rough Riders, Corominas and Villahermosa buses.
Bolodo said the buses will ply affected routes only if needed and passengers will pay the same fares as that of jeepneys.
Bus back-up
He said the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will issue a provisional authority for buses to operate outside their franchises.
Bolodo warned that jeepneys not plying their travel lines will be seized and those who try to stop other drivers from operating or place metal spikes in the path of non-participating drivers will be arrested.
PRO 7 Director Ronald Roderos is calling on all drivers to maintain peace in holding their strike.
For his part, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Patrocinio Comendador said the protest comes in a time when they are busy attending to the needs of relatives of victims of the mv Princess of the Stars.
CCPO officers have been deployed to funeral parlors where bodies are displayed for identification and in the City Hall operations center for security and for traffic management.
Nevertheless, Comendador said, they will do what they can to make sure order is maintained during the strike.
Fare hike
Authorities are set to field traffic enforcers to maintain regular traffic flow in the Fuente Osmeña rotunda, the downtown area in front of Gaisano Metro, and near Malacañang sa Sugbo. These are areas where protesters are expected to converge tomorrow.
At least 20 beat patrol policemen will also be taken off their regular posts to serve as escorts of Kaohsiung buses and other vehicles that will be fielded by the Cebu City Government as alternate vehicles for commuters.
Meanwhile, the LTFRB stayed open yesterday and will remain open today to allow jeepney drivers to claim their fare “notice.” The document will authorize them to collect P7 as minimum fare starting tomorrow.
LTFRB 7 Director Romulo Bernardes said the notice is free, unlike the tariff matrix that requires payment of fees under the board’s rules and regulations.
The order from the LTFRB en banc chaired by Chairman Thompson Lantion was issued last Friday, the day Nadsu members announced the strike.
No cause
Bernardes said he is not worried about Nadsu’s strike because the Cebu Integrated Multi-Purpose Transport Cooperative (Citrasco) and the Visayas United Drivers Transport Cooperative (Vudtrasco) are not joining them.
LTFRB officials said Nadsu is the smallest transport group in Cebu. When it staged a strike a few months back, it failed because of the lack of support of other transport groups, officials said.
“There is no cause to stage a transport strike because there is a second provisional fare increase. Secondly, the petition of the drivers for a P2.50 increase in the minimum fare is still pending and is still subject to further hearings by our central office in Manila,” Bernardes said.
Aside from the lack of interest by Citrasco and Vudtrasco to join the strike, Bernardes said commuters have other means of transportation such as the 149 units operated by members of the Cebu South Mini-Bus Operators Association and the more than 5,000 taxi units mostly owned by members of the Metro Cebu Taxi Operators Association.
Bernardes said he is also banking on the continued operation of multicabs in various routes in Metro Cebu. (MEA/JST/EOB)
