Most cities in Metro Manila and towns in Luzon and Visayas suspended classes for Monday in anticipation of a nationwide transport strike led by the Alliance of Concerned Transport Organization.
Eight cities”•Caloocan, Las Piñas, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, and Valenzuela City”•suspended classes in all levels, for both public and private schools, as ACTO president Efren de Luna said there was no stopping their strike in protest of the government’s Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program.
READ: Jeepney groups set strike Monday
Meanwhile, the Duterte administration said Sunday it will not be intimated or cowed by the nationwide strike as the modernization of the public transport system, led by the ubiquitous jeepney, “is long overdue.”
The City of Manila suspended classes only for college students, reasoning that students in preschool to senior high school levels lived near their schools in the city. Quezon City did the opposite, suspending classes for preschool to senior high in celebration of World Teachers’ Day.
In Luzon, Los Baños, Majayjay, Rizal, San Pablo City, and Santa Cruz in Laguna province, Tiaong in Quezon, the whole Pampanga province and Angeles City also declared class suspensions as of presstime.
On Saturday, the cities of Bacolod, Bago and Talisay in Negros Occidental and Iloilo City had declared suspensions, and Roxas City in Capiz joined them on Sunday to round up the Visayas contingent.
READ: Three Negros cities brace for transport strike on Monday
The Department of Education said it was leaving it up to local governments to suspend classes as they saw fit.
In an interview with radio dzMM, De Luna said they were striking to protest the unreasonably high cost of P2 million for modern PUVs to replace their decades-old jeepneys.
“The government would refer you to Landbank, but after that, they’d leave you alone,” the ACTO chief said. “At P2.5 million each [modern PUV], what banks would lend you that money? That’s a shot at the moon,” he said.
De Luna said the government never really consulted with jeepney and other PUV drivers and just went ahead with implementing their program, reason why ACTO is appealing to suspend it.
However, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement: “This administration is committed to serve the paramount interest of the citizens for convenient and accessible public transportation.”
Panelo cautioned drivers and operators joining the strike not to perform “acts of violence” because the government “will enforce pertinent laws, rules and regulations, including the cancellation of their privileges, such as franchises or certificates of public convenience.”
Yet the spokesman said the Palace will not dissuade them from joining.
“Concerned agencies are asked to prepare to activate the Joint Quick Response Team [JQRT] on Transportation to assist commuters who will be stranded and affected by the demonstration,” he said.
Meanwhile, National Capital Region Police chief Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said they would be monitoring the strike, and had ordered all police districts to ready their trucks and other vehicles to serve the commuting public where needed.