Commuters feel impact of violence during strike

LUCENA CITY — The post-holiday rush, a time that usually meant passengers cramming buses, saw a bus here nearly empty, that of the labor strife-torn DLTB Bus Co.

Commuters interviewed by the Inquirer said they avoided riding DLTB buses amid reports about the violent strike that gripped the bus firm and cases of arson and an accident that followed these.

“My family is one of the regular patrons of DLTB,” said Marcelo Bigyan, a Makati City bank employee.

“But we’re now temporarily avoiding them,” he said at the grand terminal here on Tuesday.

On Dec. 29, five DLTB buses were torched by still unidentified suspects inside the firm’s terminal in Lemery, Batangas.

On Dec. 31, at least 26 people were hurt when a Metro Manila-bound DLTB bus fell off a bridge in Unisan town in Quezon province.

While other buses were filled with passengers, a lone DLTB bus had only a couple of passengers.

Lawyer Hernan Nicdao, national secretary of Philippine Trade and General Workers Organization (PTGWO), expressed lament about the effect of the strife in DLTB on commuters. “It’s really unfortunate,” he said in a phone interview.

The DLTB Union (DLU) is affiliated with PTGWO.

Nicdao said DLTB and the police have reached an agreement to keep the peace in DLTB terminals and offices and secure workers who did not join the strike, which Nicdao said was launched by workers who are not representatives of the legitimate union in DLTB.

“Some members of DLU are being harassed and threatened,” Nicdao said. “This can’t go on,” he said.

Nicdao said the PTGWO-affiliated DLU is the duly certified representative of the bus firm’s workers.

On Aug. 25, 2015, Nicdao said the DLU entered into a Collective Bargaining Agreement with DLTB, which had been ratified by workers and is now in effect.

He said the conflict gripping DLTB is really about which is the legitimate union of the workers, although workers who went on strike claimed that DLTB refused to release their 13th month pay and other benefits.