This was the call of local jeepney drivers’ group leaders who joined the transport strike in Pampanga last Monday and Tuesday to protest government plans to phase out their jeepneys and replace them with new ones costing up to P1.6 million each.
While the jeepney strike fizzled out in Angeles City, the rest of this province was paralyzed by lack of public transport as jeepney drivers grounded their vehicles on their first day of strike last Monday By Tuesday, most of the jeepneys plied regular routes in Pampanga despite the suspension of classes and work in government offices for two straight days of the transport strike.
Leaders of jeepney drivers’ groups here, who asked not to be named for fear of being disenfranchised by the Land Transportation and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), described the government phase out plan as “inhuman” and “totally disregarding the realities in the life of the jeepney driver.”
While the government assured them that no downpayment would be needed to acquire the new jeepneys on installment basis and that they would be given a subsidy of P80,000 each, they insisted that majority of them could still not afford the installment without allowing their families to go hungry.
“Also, why phase out even new and well maintained jeepneys?” one of the striking leaders asked, saying he represented the sentiments of local jeepney drivers.
He also said that “if present jeepneys are unacceptable, the Land Transportation Office should not have allowed them to be registered year after year.”
“If the government would blame this on corruption in the LTO, then the problem is with corrupt LTO people who should be phased out, not the jeepneys,” he said.
Last Monday, many of the jeepney drivers joined rallies protesting the government’s plan to phase out their vehicles in lieu of new ones they are to pay on installment which, they insisted, they would not be able to afford.
City of San Fernando Mayor Edwin Santiago said he ordered the fielding of government vehicles last Monday and Tuesday to help stranded folk reach their destinations.
“There were private sector workers who still had to report to work despite the jeepney strike and they needed to be ferried to their work places,” he said.
In the commercial town of Guagua, Mayor Dante Torres also said he fi elded government vehicles for free rides to the public through routes usually covered by jeepneys mostly connecting to nearby towns whose folk do marketing in the local market.
In Masantol, all jeepney drivers also joined the strike Monday, while a few plied routes the following day. The office of Gov. Lilia Pineda said except for Angeles City, several Pampanga towns were paralyzed by the jeepney strike especially last Monday.
In Angeles City, city information officer Jay Pelayo IV said local jeepney drivers announced earlier they would not join the strike so as not to inconvenience the public, but that they sympathized with their colleagues in objecting to the proposed jeepney phase out.
City jeepney drivers, he said, preferred other means to express their objections to the government plan to phase out jeepneys and replace them with new ones each costing P1.6 million.
