Jeepney drivers and operators should refrain from joining another round of transport strikes led by transport groups on Dec. 4 and 5, or face hefty sanctions from the government, Malacañang warned Tuesday.
“The LTFRB [Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board] is correct in saying that the holders of public franchise and conveniences are precluded from joining such action,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said in a Palace news briefing.
“And therefore, expect that their participation will come with the legal consequences as far as the award of the certificate of public convenience is concerned,” he added.
Roque said that the government will be doing everything “to protect the commuters from any hitch that may arise from this transport strike.”
Militant group Piston had threatened to once again protest the planned phase out of jeepneys that would not pass the LTFRB’s vehicle inspection test starting Jan. 1, 2018.
George San Mateo, Piston national president, alleged that the modernization program is only a “front” to sell Euro 4-compliant and electric-powered vehicles to jeepney drivers and operators.
President Rodrigo Duterte, however, had accused jeepney operators and drivers who staged a two-day transport strike last October of conniving with the communists to overthrow him.
If they will not comply with the government’s modernization program by the end of the year, they would be arrested, and their units impounded, Duterte warned.
The President did not mince his words even against small jeepney operators who opposed the government’s modernization program—saying he didn’t care if their families would go hungry.
“You’re poor? Then [expletive] stay poor and hungry. I don’t care,” he said last Oct. 17, addressing the jeepney operators.
Duterte added that the current types of public utility jeepneys “are poisoning the people,” since old engines emit too much carbon dioxide that could affect the health of Filipinos.