BREAKING NEWS
Nationwide Strike Cripples Transport in Key Cities,
Provinces
Transportation was
paralyzed today (April 18) in key cities of the Philippines as
cause-oriented groups took the issues of oil price hikes and higher taxes
to the streets.
By RONALYN OLEA
Bulatlat
The strike staged today (April 18) by
organized jeepney, bus and tricycle drivers and operators crippled public
transportation in the country's major key cities as of 11 a.m.. Reports
gathered by Bulatlat showed that transportation ground to a halt from 70
percent to nearly 100 percent in Southern and Central Luzon, Baguio City, Negros Island and in
Cotabato and Davao. For the first time, FX megataxis joined the strike in
many provinces.
The strike was expected to peak by
noontime.
In Metro Manila, both lanes of EDSA
and Taft Avenue-Pasay were completely paralyzed. Bus, jeepney and FX mega
cabs stopped plying in the Southern Tagalog provinces of Batangas (90
percent), Rizal (85 percent), Laguna (95 percent), Quezon (100 percent)
and Cavite (90 percent).
In Central Luzon as of 11 a.m. today, transportation was
paralyzed by nearly 100 percent in the provinces of Pampanga, Bulacan and
Tarlac. In Bataan, Zambales, Aurora and Nueva Ecija,
transport ground to a halt by 70 percent. Jeepneys and buses also took off
the streets in Pangasinan by 100 percent.
Drivers groups also reported that Baguio City's mass
transport was affected by the strike by 50-100 percent in many areas.
In Western Visayas, public transport
vehicles stopped plying in Negros Occidental, 90 percent; Negros Oriental,
60 percent; and Bacolod City, 85 percent.
Cotabato provinces reported a 100
percent transport paralysis.
Oil price hikes, higher taxes
Having had enough of
increasing oil prices and the possibility of higher taxes, cause-oriented
groups took to the streets once more today (April 18) to stage a national
day of protest and transport strike.
The Pagkakaisa ng mga
Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston, United Force of Drivers
and Operators Nationwide) and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU, May 1st
Movement) led the nationwide protest action and transport strike in
different parts of the country.
Various transport
groups in the National Capital Region, Baguio City, Cagayan Valley,
Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Cebu, Negros, Panay, Eastern
Visayas, Davao, Cotabato, General Santos City and CARAGA were also geared
for Monday’s mass actions.
Among the
organizations joining the protest are those under the Bagong Alyansang
Makabayan (Bayan, or New Patriotic Alliance) and Kontra Kartel (A Movement
against Oil Price Increases and Oil Cartel).
Joining the transport
strike, KMU Secretary General Joel Maglunsod said, were jeepney drivers,
small operators, drivers of public utility vehicles including bus,
tricycles, pedicabs, taxicab and even truck drivers.
Piston said that
transportation in Metro Manila’s 13 major and 40 secondary routes are
expected to be paralyzed.
Earlier, Maglunsod
said that the strike aims to show the people's growing opposition to the
successive oil price hikes and the possibility of higher taxes through the
restructuring of the value-added tax (VAT).
The prices of oil
have increased by P3 ($0.05, based on an exchange rate of P54.63) per
liter since January this year. Officials of oil companies admitted that
they plan to increase the price of diesel from the current P26 ($0.48) to
P35 ($0.64) per liter. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, meanwhile, has
openly supported moves to restructure the VAT by increasing the rate from
10 percent to 12 percent and/or by widening its coverage.
Wage hike also
needed
Maglunsod said that
there is more than enough reason to demand higher wages and to stop oil
price hikes now that the Senate has approved the VAT Restructuring Act.
“The government must
consider giving out economic relief or prepare to face the outrage of
burdened consumers,” he said. "We demand a stop to the weekly oil price
hikes, significant rollback in prices of petroleum products and wage
increase for workers. We will raise our demands for P125 across-the-board,
across-the-country nationwide wage increase."
In a separate
statement, Bayan also stressed that the effects of the VAT on oil products
would have negative effects on consumers. Even with the removal of excise
tax on oil products, the 10 percent VAT will have a big effect on oil
prices. For example, because of the VAT, diesel prices will go up by at
least P0.50 ($0.01) per liter, Bayan said.
Bayan Secretary General Renatos Reyes said, “Oil prices and taxes are an
explosive combination that may blow up in the face of the Arroyo regime.
Consumers are being bludgeoned by one price hike after another. It is the
height of callousness for the regime to allow such exactions.”
Oil cartel denounced
KMU also belied
claims of the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (IPPCA)
that there is no cartel in the local oil industry.
Last week, the IPPCA
published a paid advertisement titled “Walang Kartel sa Oil Industry”
(There is No Cartel in the Oil Industry) in several newspapers.
Maglunsod, on the
other hand, charged the IPPCA of defending the Big Three, namely, Shell,
Caltex and Petron for their overpricing. “For the past nine years, oil
companies used the oil deregulation law to their full advantage to
strengthen their control in the oil industry," he said.
“We expect the
government to do everything in its capacity to put down the people's fight
against oil price hikes and demands for economic relief,” the KMU leader
also said. “But we will continue to take the wage increase campaign to the
streets. Massive people's protest against Arroyo's leadership will
culminate in bigger and broader protests on May 1, Labor Day.” Bulatlat
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