CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — The Kilusang Mayo Uno on Tuesday reiterated its demand to the national government and its agencies under the Inter-Agency Task Force to allow public utility vehicles to ply their routes again.
The KMU specifically said jeepneys and buses should once more ply their routes and jumpstart the mass transport system in the metro and surrounding provinces.
The labor group said the ban on mass transport vehicles like jeepneys is causing extreme difficulties for workers and employees who have no other means to get to and from work every day.
“It’s impossible to understand the logic of the government. It pushed workers to return to work in order to get the wheels of the economy going again, but it denies workers the means to get to their places of employment,” said KMU chairperson Elmer Labog.
“It’s infuriating how so many Filipinos are forced to wait for so long and often in vain to get a ride to work. The vehicles provided by the government are not enough to accommodate all the people who need public transport. We need to have the mass transport system activated now. Let the jeepneys and buses ply their routes now,” reiterated Labog.
“Many Filipinos are forced to walk long distances to get to work, and thousands are left stranded on the streets, also waiting to get a ride. There is chaos and suffering on the streets every day, but all this can be prevented and stopped if the public utility vehicles are allowed to operate again,” he said.
“Jeepney drivers and operators are doing their best to enforce safety protocols inside the jeepneys,” he added.
Labog also called out the IATF for distributing libelous anti-communist propaganda materials to passengers of government-mobilized vehicles.
“The government has money to waste printing and distributing colored comics filled with libelous content directed against people’s organizations, but it can’t provide more welfare aid to unemployed Filipinos and their families? The twisted priorities the authorities have are contemptible,” he said.
“We are in the middle of a severe health crisis which is now exacerbated by other long-standing social problems like the lack of an efficient mass transport system and growing unemployment, but the government is focused on fomenting anti-communist hysteria, and pushing for a more draconian terror bill instead of focusing on the real issues that are undermining the health, safety, and very survival of Filipinos and their families. The government chooses to continue on the militarist path and to resort to campaigns of suppression and fascism” he pointed out.
