LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—Organizers of a region-wide transport holiday on Wednesday claimed they paralyzed major jeepney routes in Laguna while protest rallies against fuel price increases were simultaneously held in the rest of the Calabarzon provinces(Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon).
Leo “XL” Fuentes, spokesperson of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Southern Tagalog (Bayan-ST), said the strike that started past 7 a.m. kept 80 percent of jeepneys stuck in a terminal in Balibago, Sta. Rosa City.
At least 60-70 percent of jeepneys in another key terminal in Crossing, Calamba City, did not ply their routes at the start of the strike, said Fuentes.
He said the strike peaked at around 10:30 a.m. when 100 percent of jeepneys plying the San Pedro-Calamba City route, and 85 percent of those plying the Calamba City-Los Baños-Sta. Cruz-San Pablo City route stayed out of the streets.
Alex Balayan, vice chair of the Southern Tagalog Transport Sector Organization-Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Starter-Piston), said more than 100 drivers joined the protest.
Perlito Alon, 46, from Biñan City, said public transport was 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.
“I can’t get a ride,” 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 her town, tricycle drivers, who did not join the strike, took advantage of the situation and charged commuters P25 for a trip that normally cost only P9.
Carvajal said protesters in Sta. Rosa City blocked jeepneys, convincing their drivers to join the strike.
Supt. Ismael Fernandez, Sta. Rosa City police chief, said the strike achieved 90 percent paralysis in the city with at least 100 protesters stationed in Balibago and Dita villages, the city’s key transport 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 most public utility vehicles also stayed out of local routes in Lipa, Batangas, past 11 a.m.
Balayan said the drivers were protesting the high costs of fuel that had increased 20 times since January—the most recent being the P2 per liter increase in gasoline prices on July 12 and a 90-centavo increase in prices of diesel and kerosene on Tuesday.
He said a jeepney driver consumes an average of 30 liters of fuel and travels 100 kilometers a day.