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Sunday, June 19, 2005
Operators, drivers back plan for motorcab coop
By Victor L. Camion
DRIVERS and operators of motorcabs-for-hire or pedicab in Dumaguete City welcomed a plan of Malacañang to convert their associations into a cooperative.
Dumaguete City alone has more than 40 tricycle operators and drivers' associations excluding those of roving passenger-tricycle units.
Cesar Abrasaldo, president of Dumaguete Tricycle Roving-for-Hire Operators and Drivers Association said his group supports the proposal of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to convert the associations into service cooperatives so they could benefit from the various pro-poor programs of the government.
Mario Ojario, driver-operator and member of the Dumaguete Candau-ay Tricycle Operators and Drivers' Association, Mizael Soperal, member of the Balugo Cadawinonan Operators and Drivers' Association, and Edgar Velonta of the Batinguel Tricycle Drivers' Association shared Abrasaldo's sentiments.
"It is important today to convert transport associations into cooperatives to blunt the impact of high oil prices," said President Arroyo during the recent briefing on the proposal at the Heroes' Hall in Malacañang.
Figures from Office of Transportation Cooperatives show more than four million tricycles belonging to 62,700 associations operating nationwide.
In the same briefing, the President directed the Department of Transportation and Communications to help transport cooperatives put up their own gasoline service stations and go into bulk importation of oil to ease the pressure on them to hike fares.
She said local government units should join the campaign against illegal vehicles to ensure that the interests of legitimate transport operators are protected.
In September 2003, the President issued Memorandum Order Number 116 extending her full support for the conversion of into service cooperatives.
"Tricycles play a vital role in the movement of passengers, particularly in remote areas and/or subdivisions where other modes of transportation do not serve the public," President Arroyo said.
Moreover, she said, the conversion would serve as a "practical vehicle for promoting self-reliance and harnessing people power in the attainment of economic growth, development and social justice towards the envisioned strong Republic."
(June 19, 2005 issue)
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