BACOLOD CITY – There can be no full paralysis of public transport here despite plans for a nationally- coordinated strike Monday.
Marcelo Ochia, chairperson of the United Negros Transport Cooperative (UNETCO) confirmed to DNX that almost 400 jeepneys owned by their members will ply 28 routes in the city even as the United Negros Drivers and Operators Center (UNDOC) had vowed to support the one-day strike.
The day-long activity aims to dramatize opposition to the “fake” modernization moves of the Duterte government, and to push for the scrapping of the Downstream Oil Deregulation Law, Diego Malacad said.
Malacad chairs the United Negros Drivers and Operators Center, an allied organization of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Negros, that will lead the Negros protests.
The Federation of Bacolod City Drivers Association (FEBACDA) and the Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (STONE) have also confirmed they will join, Malacad added.
The strike will start 5am, Monday. Members of the three groups will gather 5pm at the Fountain of Justice where they will hold a noise barrage and end the strike by 6pm. Rally centers will also be set up in several chokepoints here, Malacad said.
DOTC ORDER
Ochia said they will not join the strike because of an advisory from the Department of Transportation and Communication‘s Office of Transportation Cooperatives that reminded them that the franchises of their members will be revoked if they refuse to service passengers.
