Transport group Piston will hold a two-day nationwide strike next week to protest rising fuel prices, its national president Mody Floranda announced Tuesday.
In an interview with the INQUIRER during a rally in Quezon City, Floranda said the strike would run from Sept. 29 to 30, coinciding with another expected increase in fuel prices.
‘September 29 dahil sasabayan natin yung muling pagtaas ng presyong petrolyo-na halos mahigit P10 yung itataas,’ Floranda told the INQUIRER.
(September 29 because we will be following the re-increase in the price of fuel-which will increase by almost P10.)
The protest would also on the government to abolish the value-added tax and excise tax on fuel products, roll back fuel prices to P55 per liter, and repeal the Oil Deregulation Law, which Floranda said allows oil companies to set fuel prices with little government control.
The Piston president likewise called for a ‘living wage’ for the transportation sector and all workers in the country.
Floranda lamented the supposed inaction of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s administration on their long-standing calls, saying the government is doing nothing about the ‘capitalists’ move to increase fuel prices.
‘Ang nagiging tanong ng mga driver: Ang estado ba ay para kanino? Para ba sa malalaking negosyo o para sa mamamayang Pilipino?’ Floranda said.
(The question that drivers ask is: For whom is the state for? Is it for big businesses or for the Filipino people?)
‘Ang mamamayang Pilipino ang naglagay sa kanila kaya dapat sa mamamayang Pilipino sila magsilbi,’ he added.
(The Filipino people put them in that position, so they should serve the Filipino people.)
Floranda said that around 70,000 to 100,000 jeepney drivers and operators are expected to join the nationwide strike.
He said that demonstrations will also be held next week in Bulacan, Pampanga, Baguio, Rizal, Naga, Sorsogon, Cebu, Panay, Iloilo, Bacolod City, Davao, and General Santos City.
‘Drivers’ fight is fight of Filipinos’
Floranda called on other sectors-such as commuters-to join the strike, noting that ‘the drivers’ fight over the issue of high fuel prices is a fight of the Filipino people.’
Kilusang Mayo Uno national chairperson Jerome Adonis and Kadamay secretary general Mimi Doringo joined Floranda and the jeepney drivers and operators in the rally in Quezon City, noting that their groups will participate in the strike next week.
Adonis, in a separate ambush interview, described the transport group’s strike as ‘Pambansang Welga.’
‘[Ito ay] pambansang welga laban sa pagtaas ng presyo ng produktong petrolyo at, at the same time, laban sa patuloy na pambabarat ng sahod sa mga manggagawang Pilipino,’ Adonis said.
(This is] a national strike against the increase in the price of petroleum products and at the same time, against the continued cheapening of wages for Filipino workers.)
‘Huwag nilang gawing dahilan yung giyera sa Middle East para pagkakitaan,’ he emphasized.
(They should not use the war in the Middle East as a reason to make money.)
Meanwhile, Doringo, in an interview with the INQUIRER, pointed out that Marcos must heed the calls of jeepney drivers and operators protesting fuel price hikes.
‘Matagal na naming sinasabi sa’yo, kumilos ka na. Huwag kang manahimik diyan sa paghihirap ng mga mamamayang Pilipino habang ang pamilya mo, nagpapakasaya at nagpapakasarap sa Malacañang,’ she said.