Transport groups Piston and Manibela announced that they will go on another series of strikes starting April 15, ahead of the franchise consolidation deadline for operators under the government’s public utility vehicle (PUV) modernization program.

This cames after President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said there would be no extension for the April 30 deadline for jeepney operators to join cooperatives or cooperations.

In a press briefing held Thursday, Manibela chairman Mar Valbuena said the strike will take place all over the country.

“April 15 is the start of the transport strike not just here in Metro Manila. We will do it nationwide starting Monday. The protest will continue for not just one, two, or three days. This will go on until the deadline you set for us. There will be one strike after another,” Valbuena said.

Valbuena urged Marcos to stop the mandatory consolidation, saying that drivers and operators would lose their jobs if it pushed through.

“President BBM (Bongbong Marcos), please listen to the masses. Listen to poor, the driver, and the operators who are pleading to keep their livelihood and not have it taken away,” he said.

Piston National President Mody Floranda said they still believe that the modernization of PUVs should be under rehabilitation.

“What we are against is the franchising consolidation, not the modernization. Clearly, our position is that the modernization should be under rehabilitation,” Floranda said in an interview with Unang Balita.

“They’re telling us that under the modernization they just want to improve our vehicles, but why do they have to revoke or confiscate our legitimate franchise just to hand over the control to large corporations?” he added.

Following this announcement, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said they are preparing their mobility assets to assist passengers who could be affected by the transport strikes.

“When there are transport strikes, we deploy our mobility assets together with the MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority, particularly here in the NCR (National Capital Region) and our LGUs (local government units), and even the LTFRB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board) deploys big buses,” PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo told reporters. Jaspearl Tan/DMS