Tension heated up in the protest of striking jeepney drivers led by Piston as Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) spokesperson Aileen Lizada arrived at the ongoing protest in Aurora Boulevard in Cubao, Quezon City today.
Protesting drivers and other groups were holding a press conference when Lizada arrived and called for her own press briefing next to the protest.
In her media interview, Lizada once again belittled the victory of the two-day nationwide transport strike of Piston and the No To Jeepney Phase-Out Coalition against the Duterte government’s “modernization” plan of jeepneys and other public utility vehicles (PUVs).
As Lizada held her media briefing, members of Piston, Gabriela, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Migrante, Anakbayan and other groups suspended their program and chanted “Lizada, Sinungaling! (Lizada, Liar!),” “LTFRB Anti-Mamamayan! (LTFRB, Anti-People),” and “No To Jeepney Phase-Out!” among other demands of the group.
Members of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) blocked protesters from getting close to Lizada.
Before leaving, a ruffled Lizada threatened drivers, operators and leaders of Piston that the LTFRB will file charges against them due to the transport strike.
She did not answer questions from the media asking for reactions on Piston’s appraisal of 90% paralysis of PUV operations nationwide in the first day of the strike. She only said that she had been told to pull out of the area.
Yesterday, Lizada also surveyed the same road and area and told media that the transport strike was ineffective since there appeared to be no stranded commuters. She said they would recommend that classes and government work resume today.
The protesters reminded Lizada that there may be no stranded commuters, because there were no classes or government work and there were barely PUVs in the area and in many areas in Metro Manila yesterday. They said that it is also not their intention to inconvenience the public, but the protest was all they could do amid the government’s insistence of the modernization program that is actually a jeepney phase-out.
Work in government and classes in all levels nationwide yesterday had been suspended by the Office of the President. Even the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Philippine Stock Exchange and other private institutions postponed operations yesterday.
Before midnight yesterday, the Malacañang Palace took back its order to not suspend classes, citing the transport strike and possible inclement weather as reasons for the suspension. Government work and classes in all levels were again cancelled on the second day of the transport strike.
Piston National Chairperson George San Mateo reacted on the “heckling” incident of Lizada and called the LTFRB official an “attack dog and deodorizer of President Duterte” in justifying the corporate take-over and phase-out scheme of jeepneys and PUVs.
San Mateo also discounted the presence of Lizada for any tangible and acceptable resolution to the differences of their position with the LTFRB to arise. He urged President Duterte to face them in a dialogue and immediately scrap the PUV and jeepney phase-out plan.
Piston already announced that 90% of the total transportation routes all over the country were paralyzed on the first day of the transport strike on October 16. The impact of the second day of the strike is yet to be evaluated as of press time, but Piston already announced the victory of the two-day strike.
San Mateo said that the strike definitely be not the last protest should jeepneys and PUVs remain under threat of being phased out.
