Davao mayor backs planned transport strike

Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. FILE PHOTO

DAVAO CITY—Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said Friday he supports a transport strike planned for Nov. 13 to protest misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund.

Duterte told reporters he would be very happy if the protest action pushes through.

“I fully support the protest action. P70 billion of misused funds is P70 billion, which is supposed to go to projects,” he said.

The militant transport workers group Piston-Transmission–Southern Mindanao said it will be staging the 24-hour strike to protest as well what it described as “prohibitive and excessive” penalties on traffic violations set by the Land Transportation Office.

Edil Gonzaga, Piston-Transmission secretary general, said the strike would start at midnight on November 12 and will end 24 hours later.

Gonzaga said his group is confident that at least 90 percent of the city’s public transport sector would join the strike.