THE City Government of Davao scored big with the deployment of air conditioned buses to provide free rides to the riding public as jeepney operators and drivers staged a transport strike to protest the "phase-out of jeepneys".
A total of 36 passenger buses were deployed by the Davao City Transport and Traffic Management Office in partnership with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board starting 5 a.m.
The 36 are made up of 12 Bachelor Express, 12 Metro Shuttle, 10 Mindanao Star, and 2 LCI buses, which were deployed to Toril, Calinan, Maa, Catalunan Grande in the South area and Lasang via Sasa & R. Castillo, Lasang via Catitipan, Buhangin and Agdao via Claro M. Recto for the north bound.
"Nakatabang-tabang pud sa among gastuhonon sa among transaction. Gikan pa ko sa Panabo padulong Maa, from Maa ko nisakay sa bus ug diri mi gi-drop,bisan daghan mi ug dasok-dasok atleast nakabuhat mi sa among transaction. Salamat kay mayor (It really helped with our expenses. I came from Panabo and then went to Maa, and from there, I rode the bus from Maa and we were dropped here," Maria Teresa Callao said. Callao is thankful to Mayor Duterte-Carpio for the free ride.
CTTMO head Dionisio Abude in a phone interview with VoxPop Davao on Monday said that from 20 percent who did not join the strike in the morning increased up to 65 percent at around 5:30 p.m., on Monday, October 16.
He deemed the deployment successful as there were very few stranded passengers monitored.
He said, the majority of the calls for information and assistance he received was in the morning since many of the riding public were still going to downtown areas.
There were those who opted to wait for passenger jeepneys are there were a few who continued to ply their route.
Eukarya Karima, a resident of Bucana, said she preferred waiting for a jeepney because she was more familiar with the routes the jeepneys take. She was waiting for a Cabaguo-bound jeep.
Kris Tinio from Toril, who had transaction here in the city waited for an hour in the loading area near Philippine National Bank fronting San Pedro church for a ride that will bring her at the Brokenshire Hospital.
"Humingi ako ng tulong sa traffic enforcer punuan pa rin, mahigit isang oras na akong naghintay masakit na ang ulo ko buti na lang hindi ako naatake, kasi kung naatake ako baka namatay na ako," Tinio said in an interview with VoxPop Davao on Monday morning.
She said she preferred riding a jeepney because she has difficulty going up the steps of the bus.
Asked whether she supports the planned phase-out, she said she does, because many jeepneys are already dilapidated.
"The jeepneys introduced by the government are so nice, which will improve the situation of the passengers. Change is coming then let it come," she said.
Pinag-isang Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Nationwide-Southern Mindanao Region (PISTON-SMR) chairman Ricardo Baron in an interview with VoxPop said that the strike's main purpose is to tell the public how the phaseout will affect them.
"This law will make the public and drivers miserable becuase when time comes the big capitalist will monopolize the franchise. Once (franchise) will be given to the big capitalists, the price of basic commodities will also increase," Baron said.
Kilusang Mayo Uno spokesperson Carlo Olalo also said that they join the cause of drivers and operators since the Omnibus Franschising Guideliness will change the routes and requirements, the drivers cannot get franchise if they do not have ten electric jeepneys costing P1.2 to 1.8 million units each.
"The small operators cannot achieve this, they have no capacity to change units immediately and have ten units as required," he said.
Olalo said that they hope the Senate as well as President Duterte will hear the plea of the transport sector to scrap this law before it will be approved.
Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board Regional Director Teresita Yñiguez told VoxPop Davao on Monday clarified that what will be embarked on is a Public Utility Vehicle modernization and not a jeepney phaseout.
Yñiguez said that the government only wants to implement this modernizaton to give reliable, efficient, safe, reliable, environment friendly, dependable and comfortable public service. With this modernizations, PUV vehicles will have modern features like Global Positioning System, Wifi, Closed Circuit Television, dashboard camera, automated fee colection system, and it will also pave way for vehicles to be environmental friendly and pass prescribed Department of Natural Resources emission test.