By ALEXANDRIA SAN JUAN
TRANSPORT regulators warned jeepney operators and drivers that sanctions await them should they join the nationwide transport strike to be staged by some transport groups to protest the increasing fuel prices.
In a joint statement, the Department of Transportation and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board said that they will not tolerate any strike that transport groups will hold.
“We will not tolerate any transport strike. We will make sure that the rule of law shall prevail and will be enforced,” the statement reads.
This came after transport groups threatened the government to stage a strike if the government would not approve their petition for fare hike following a series of pump price increases.
Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (FEJODAP) National President Zeny Maranan said that LTFRB should grant their petition as the drivers are already tormented with the rising fuel prices.
“Sana ibigay na nila dahil wala nang kinikita ang mga tsuper namin, wala silang naiuuwi sa kanilang pamilya at walang naibibigay sa operator,” Maranan said in an interview.
In September last year, FEJODAP, along with League of Transport Operators of the Philippines (LTOP), Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations (ACTO), and Alliance of Transport Operators & Drivers Association of the Philippines (ALTODAP), filed a petition to increase minimum jeepney fare from R8 to R12.
The groups emphasized in their petition the need for a jeepney fare hike as the increase on the price of fuel and spare parts adversely affected them.
They added that it is “just and necessary” to raise the minimum fare in order to cover the increase in diesel price, spare parts and other operational cost of the drivers and operators.
