Transport strike, protest rallies in Calabarzon vs fuel price hikes

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna — Organizers of a region-wide transport holiday on Wednesday claimed paralyzing major jeepney routes in Laguna province while protest rallies against fuel price increases were simultaneously held in the rest of the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon).

Leo “XL” Fuentes, spokesperson of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Southern Tagalog (Bayan-ST), said the strike, which started past 7 a.m., initially paralyzed 80 percent of transport at a major jeep terminal in Balibago, Sta. Rosa City, and around 60-70 percent at another key terminal in Crossing, Calamba City.

He said the strike peaked at around 10:30 a.m. with almost 100 percent paralysis of the jeepney route from San Pedro to Calamba City via the national highway, and 85 percent of the jeepneys plying the routes Calamba City to Los Baños, Sta. Cruz and San Pablo City.

Alex Balayan, vice chairperson of the Southern Tagalog Transport Sector Organization-Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Starter-Piston), said more than 100 jeepney drivers joined the protest.

Perlito Alon, 46, from Biñan City, said public transport went normal in the morning allowing his children to go to school.

“But as of (10 a.m.), there were no more jeepneys so I had to take my wife to SM (mall in Sta. Rosa City, on a private vehicle),” he said.

“Walang masakyan! (No transportation was available),” said an inconvenienced Buena Carvajal, 42, of Sta. Rosa City, who was supposed to visit a friend in a hospital in adjacent Biñan City.

She said in their town, tricycle drivers who did not join the strike took advantage of the situation and charged commuters P25 for a short distance  that would normally cost only P9.

Carvajal added protesters in Sta. Rosa City were blocking jeepney drivers and convincing them to cease plying routes within the city.

Superintendent Ismael Fernandez, Sta. Rosa City police chief, said the strike achieved 90 percent paralysis in his area with around 100 protesters stationed in the Balibago and Dita districts, the city’s transport key points.

In other parts of the region, Fuentes said, rallies were held at the Lucena grand terminal in Lucena City, Quezon; Bacoor in Cavite; and in the cities of Tanauan and Batangas in Batangas province.

He said an almost 100 percent transport paralysis was achieved in the local routes in Lipa, Batangas at around 11:30 a.m.

Balayan said they were protesting the high cost of fuel that had increased 20 times since January—-the most recent were the P2 per liter hike in the price of gasoline on July 12, and P 0.90 per liter increase for diesel and kerosene on Tuesday.

He said a jeepney driver consumes an average of 30 liters of fuel and travels 100 kilometers a day.

“Based on our computation, a driver is losing as much as P9,000 (of his monthly earnings) because of the overpriced fuel and the EVAT (expanded value added tax). That’s already a lot for a jeepney driver,” Balayan said.

Fuentes said the transport holiday was also part of the week-long protest action that militants in Southern Luzon held beginning Monday as a build-up activity for a mass rally on the day of the President’s State of the Nation Address.