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HomeLocal NewsProtesters block road, stop E-jeeps dry run amid same old issues

Protesters block road, stop E-jeeps dry run amid same old issues

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Cesar C Jolito III and Julius D Mariveles

BACOLOD CITY NEGROS OCCIDENTAL – Protesters here blocked a major road going to a city relocation site, forcing passengers to alight from one of the electric jeepneys about to start a dry run for fear that the protesters would turn rowdy and violent.

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As this developed, former Communist cadre Jeffrey Celiz told DNX charges for economic sabotage can be filed against the protesters for disrupting the economic activity of the community by blocking the flow of goods and people.

Acting Traffic Authority Office chief Patrick Lacson, on the other hand, said they can also cgarge the protesters for violation of local traffic laws but Mayor Albee Benitez has told him to adopt a maximum tolerance policy for the drivers.

Three office workers who were about to go to work were part of about 20 passengers who alighted, and said they decided to not take the E-jeep after one of the protest leaders, Carlito Romano, “forced” them to do so and told them to transfer to one of the waiting tricycles.

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The three spoke to DNX but asked that their names be withheld amid the rising tension early this morning during the office rush.

Romano, chair of the trike association in Vista Alegre is not a resident of the place but lives, instead, in Cabug village and led the strike today along with some other non residents of the place.

Among those who blocked the road are known organizers of labor and urban poor groups that have earlier been linked to the Communist terrorist underground.

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They did not speak to reporters today.

Village chief Jose Maria Leandro Norberto ‘Lindy’ De Leon told DNX the protest of the drivers is “premature” as the E-jeeps are not meant to displace them from their livelihood but to give commuters a choice.

The preference of commuters seem to have been shown today as the first unit that was supposed to ply the loop to Burgos Street was filled to capacity in less than 20 minutes.

City dad Al Victor Espino, who chairs the local council’s committee on transportation, said the dry run and the initiative to have E-jeeps ply the once isolated route was not made by Benitez but was a result of the request from residents to national government agencies.

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DNX News Desk
DNX News Desk
Pioneer digital-first news and information source based in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental province. We are committed to providing high-quality journalism to our audience.
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