Palace braces for transport strike
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda
Malacañang is bracing for the transport strike in Metro Manila on Thursday even as it warned the participating groups “not (to) cause harm to the riding public or to threaten or to prevent them from going about their daily business.”
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the Palace is “preparing for contingencies” after Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino failed to talk the transport groups out of their bid to go on strike.
“We are prepared for the transport strike—MMDA, Department of Public Works and Highways, the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police are all ready to provide assistance, making sure that the public will not be inconvenienced,” he said at a press briefing.
He said the MMDA will be setting up a command center very early Thursday to “ensure that the public will not be prejudiced by the transport strike.”
Lacierda reminded franchise operators that they will have to face the consequences if anything should go wrong.
“This [franchise] is not a privilege, not a right. You have to be responsible for your actions. If you do participate, you will have to face consequences if any untoward incident happens,” he said.
The Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) still has to make a decision on a joint petition from various jeepney and transport groups for a P2 increase in fares.
LTFRB board member Manuel Iway said the regulator would discuss the petitions and would likely have a decision before the end of the week. He did not rule out the possibility of the requests being denied if the transport groups fail to prove the urgency of the need to adjust rates.
The Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) earlier said it would ask the LTFRB for a P1 hike in fares.
“Our goal is to help PUV drivers and their families to cope with the rise in the prices of oil and other basic commodities,” Piston national president George San Mateo said in a statement.
Militant groups geared for concerted protest actions on Thursday to call for the scrapping of the value-added tax on fuel and price controls on petrol products.
Piston said about 50 PUVs, made up of metered taxis and jeepneys, would participate in Thursday’s “transport caravan” from Quezon City to the head office of Chevron Philippines in Makati.
San Mateo clarified that the group’s protest action was not a transport “strike” and that jeepneys around the country would not abandon their routes.
Data from the Department of Energy showed that diesel prices have risen by about P3.20 to P48 per liter since the start of the year. Gasoline pump prices have risen by P6 to P58 per liter in the same period.
Malacañang on Wednesday stressed that it was not prepared to give up the 12 percent value-added (VAT) on oil, rejecting a proposal from Senator Ralph Recto to reduce the 12-percent VAT on oil to 10 percent so as to alleviate the effects of the unabated rise in oil prices.
Lacierda said the government needed the tax on oil to fund its social programs, like the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program.
“While the circumstances at that time (the tax) was imposed are different now, we need it to continue to fund our programs,” he said.
Lacierda read a statement issued by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima on why the government still has to maintain the 12-percent VAT on oil.
“We still run the deficit even though we have improved our fiscal position. We need to continue to build a revenue base rather than go backwards. This way, our cost of borrowing will continue to go down creating more space for social investment,” the Purisima statement read.
The military will deploy anticivil disturbance troops along with some of its trucks and buses to counter the planned transport strike today. With Paolo G. Montecillo and Dona Z. Pazzibugan
