Involved in the one-day transport halt from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. were passenger jeepneys plying the Balanga-Abucay and Balanga-Orani routes and vice-versa.
Passenger jeepneys in the second district, from Balanga to Pilar, Orion and Limay towns in Bataan and vice-versa, did not participate.
The jeepney drivers and operators held a short program and prayer at the corner of the fourlane road in Balanga City, watched closely by police, after they marched briefl y from their terminal.
“Tutulan ang Jeepney Phaseout. No to PUV Modernization Program,” big streamers said.
“Tinututulan namin ng modernization ng gobyerno, Hindi namin kaya ang halaga na sinasabi nilang P1.8 milyon na huhulugan namin araw-araw ng P600. Mahirap ito para sa aming maliliit na operator,” said Eman Cruz, spokesman of the Balanga-Orani Drivers, Operators Association.
“Makapaghuhulog kami pero paano na pamilya naming.” Cruz said four jeepney associations in the first district of Bataan with more than 600 jeepneys joined the transport halt.
Sympathizing, he said, were 1,200 drivers and operators.
They claimed that the modernization program will greatly aff ect the livelihood of jeepney operators and drivers and the riding public as well with the increase in fare.
