By PAOLA GAABUCAYAN
Correspondent
ORGANIZED public vehicle owners and drivers would attempt to cripple public transportation with a strike on Monday to dramatize their protest over what they called as injustices being done to them.
Demonstrations would take place in Puerto, Bugo, and at the Licoan junction from 4 am to 4 pm on Monday.
The Solidarity of Transport Alliance in Region 10 (Starex-Piston) yesterday said the scheduled strike is aimed at pressuring the government to go slow on slapping its members with stiff penalties as a result of Joint Administrative Order 01-2014 of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
Starex president Julieto Galleros said the order, issued this July 19, provides penalties ranging from P1 thousand to P5 thousand for simple violations like not wearing seatbelts, defective devices, and parts, among others.
He said public utility vehicles are being required to have fire extinguishers, handbrakes, fuel gauges, speedometer, and other gadgets.
Galleros said these fines and rules add burden to drivers who earn very little for their impoverished families.
Starex also renewed calls for the scrapping of the Oil Industry Deregulation Law, and against the treatment of public utility vehicle drivers like criminals.
The group also said it was time to scrap the 12-percent value-added tax on oil and its derivatives.
Starex secretary general Ringo Lago called the Department of Energy (DOE) “useless” because it supposedly failed to prevent oil cartels in the country.
“Dili sulbad ang usbaw sa pletehan kundi ang P6-discount sa lana,” Lago said.
Galleros said the drivers resented that some have been issued arrest warrants for violating traffic rules.
“Dako kaayo ang penalty para sa mga drayber nga galisod. Imbes ang kita ipalit sa bugas mupaingon na nuon sa penalty. Magpahigayon kami ug strike. Magpadangat sa mga yangongo kay sobra ra kaayo ang JAO,” Galleros said.
Rey Sanico, Starex vice president, said serving arrest warrants against drivers was “too much.”
“Dili disiplina kundi pangwarta. Dili kini kasulbaran sa trapiko,” Sanico said.
He decried what he called as a double standard in the enforcement of traffic rules by city hall’s Road and Traffic Administration (RTA).
Sanico said this was evident in Divisoria, the pilot area of city hall’s “Hapsay Dalan” campaign.
Sanico said the RTA has been treating drivers of private vehicles and drivers of public vehicles differently. He said traffic law enforcers in Divisoria were turning a blind eye to many violations committed by drivers of private vehicles like parking on areas where they were not supposed to.