Bacolod transport groups also on strike
BACOLOD CITY -- Leaders of the United Negros Drivers' Operators' Center (UNDOC) and the Federation of Bacolod City Drivers' Associations (FEBACDA) decided late Monday afternoon to proceed with their two-day strike starting Wednesday.
UNDOC secretary-general Jessie Ortega said the two-day strike will be launched province-wide in coordination with the militant transport group PISTON, which is spearheading the protest action nationwide.
Ortega said UNDOC, majority of the members of which are plying municipal and provincial routes, vows to sacrifice two days to stress their plight and demands.
Ortega said they have informed Vallacar Transit, operator of Ceres Liner buses, about the strike.
"We expect them to also join us as in the past," he said.
FEBACDA, the association of all passenger jeepney drivers and operators in Bacolod, through its president Beth Katalbas, said it has jointly signed with UNDOC a notice sent Tuesday to all schools, informing their heads that they will conduct a transport strike on Dec. 13 and 14.
Katalbas said the "drivers' backs are now against the wall because prices of gasoline and diesel keep going up despite the decrease in world oil prices.
"PUJ drivers can hardly make both ends meet at the moment because most of the income they realize goes to gasoline or diesel. In the case of taxi drivers, while some use LPG, the price of the fuel has shot up too," she said.
Taxi drivers associations are also joining the two-day strike, she said.
"They are also affected by the issuance by the Land Transportation Franchising & Regulatory Board (LTFRB) of so many franchises," she added.
Both UNDOC and FEBACDA want the government to suspend the operation of the Oil Deregulation Law, let the ERB control oil prices or reduce taxes on oil "as it is bought per liter to bring down the price." (PNA)