MANILA, Philippines ? Transport groups called off a Metro Manila-wide strike before noon Tuesday after Malacañang issued Executive Order 712 directing the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to implement a single ticketing system in the metropolis.

The MMDA said about 90 percent of the commuting public was affected by the strike that began at 12 midnight which left thousands stranded as more than 2,000 bus and jeepney drivers and operators stopped plying their routes.

Zeny Maranan, president of the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers' Association of the Philippines (Fejodap), said they had paralyzed at least ?95 percent? of Metro Manila.

Heavily hit were Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, the Coastal Road in Parañaque City, and even some portions of EDSA (Epifanio delos Santos Avenue) despite the continued run of the Metro Rail Transit, MMDA Traffic Operations Center Director Angelito Vergel de Dios told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

?On Commonwealth alone, thousands of commuters were waiting on the sidewalks for rides,? he said. ?On EDSA, even though the MRT was running, people were milling around, waiting for buses.?

Similar scenes were evident almost everywhere else, including Cubao in Quezon City, Alabang in Muntinlupa City and Blumentritt Road in Manila.

As a result, the number coding scheme was suspended in most cities in Metro Manila, except Makati City, which insisted it was business as usual.

Vergel de Dios said the government buses and service vehicles that gave free rides to stranded commuters helped a little but they just could not cope with the sheer number of passengers.

?This was a successful strike. Unlike previous strikes when the drivers had to block others from taking the road, this time, almost all the drivers took part,? he added.

?We can?t quantify the business losses from stores closing or tardy workers, but they probably reached millions of pesos,? Vergel de Dios said.

By 11 a.m., however, transport leaders promised to stop their strike following a meeting with Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza and other officials in Quezon City where they were presented with a copy of EO 712.

Fejodap?s Maranan, Pasang Masda president Obet Martin and George San Mateo, spokesman of Piston (Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide or United Organizations of Drivers and Operators Nationwide), announced the end of the strike after meeting with Mendoza.

Signed Monday night by President Macapagal-Arroyo, the order, according to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, called for a single ticketing system for Metro Manila to prevent ?confusion among drivers.?

It also directs the Department of Transportation and Communications to ?immediately review all existing orders, rules and regulations issued by local government units concerning public transportation, including the grant of franchises to tricycles, establishment and operation of transport terminals, authority to issue traffic citation tickets, and unilateral rerouting schemes of public utility vehicles and for other purposes.?

Mendoza said the EO would be implemented in 15 days.

Transport groups earlier set as one of their demands the implementation of the single-ticketing system, which they and MMDA officials had been pushing for.

The scheme, otherwise known as the Metro Traffic Ticketing System, seeks to make uniform the system of issuing citation tickets around Metro Manila. But there were objections from some local governments, like Makati City.

At present, local governments in Metro Manila issue different traffic citation tickets and impose varying fees, sometimes resulting in confusion among motorists.

Radio and television reports said about 90% of jeepneys at the Monumento area in Caloocan City stopped plying their routes.

But along Aurora Boulevard, jeepneys going to Marikina City and those going to Divisoria on the opposite side continued to ply their routes, according to INQUIRER.net editorial assistant Liza Caña.

Buses going to Makati City from Cubao, Quezon City were stopped by strikers, according to the MMDA.

In Manila, striking jeepney drivers effectively paralyzed 100 percent of the city?s mass transportation, the Manila Police District Tactical Operations Center said.

PO2 Mayjoy Arquillo said jeepney drivers and operators plying the routes of Moriones-Divisoria, Moriones-Dagat-dagatan, A. Rivera-Sta. Cruz, España-Blumentritt, Balic-Balic-Quiapo, Pandacan-Escoda, Lardizabal-Tayuman, Zamora-Leon Guinto and San Nicholas-Divisoria joined the transport strike.

In the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela) area, the drivers of two buses who did not join the strike said strikers stoned their vehicles near the Monumento Circle on Edsa.

The protesters stopped when they saw the police approaching, said Socrates Dumlao, the driver of a Cher Line bus.

In Quezon City, student Kevin Arguelles, 18, said officials should have declared a holiday Tuesday because it took him two hours to get a ride from his house in Fairview to his school in the Diliman area.

At the MRT Taft Avenue station, passengers waiting for a ride clogged the entrances, forcing watchmen to close the gates temporarily to make way for exiting commuters.

Southern Police District director, Chief Supt. Luizo Ticman, said the strike affected around 40 to 50 percent of the transport sector, with Pasay City the hardest hit, particularly the Edsa Rotunda and the Buendia areas.

Pateros Mayor Jaime Medina complained that jeepney drivers were prevented from plying their routes by militants waiting for them at the town?s borders it shared with the cities of Makati, Taguig and Pasig.

The situation was the same in the eastern part of the metropolis, according to Eastern Police District Chief Supt. Nilo de la Cruz who said about 80 percent of the transport sector was paralyzed.

Earlier, MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando said 12 of Metro Manila?s 17 local governments had approved the single-ticketing scheme.

"The Metro Manila Council [which ratified the system] is a collegial body, so the will of the majority should prevail," Vergel de Dios said.

But the chief of Makati City's department of public safety, Hermenegildo San Miguel, said Mayor Jejomar Binay would likely oppose the EO.

"There is an existing ordinance, and I don't think any EO can just dismiss that," he said.

He said Makati was barely affected by the strike since the transport operators based in the city opted not to join it.

But he admitted that problems were encountered along Chino Roces Avenue (Pasong Tamo), JP Rizal Avenue, FTI and Pasay Road.

Classes in all levels were not suspended except in the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa, Philippine Christian University, Saint Paul?s University in Quezon City and La Consolacion College of Manila. With reports from Lawrence Casiraya and Liza Caña, INQUIRER.net; and Riza T. Olchondra, Tina G. Santos, Nancy C. Carvajal, Marlon Ramos, Julie M. Aurelio and Kristine L. Alave, Inquirer