Philippine Jeepney, Bus Drivers Begin Week-Long Transport Strike – The Diplomat

ASEAN Beat | Economic system | Southeast Asia

Philippine transport teams yesterday launched a weeklong, nationwide strike to protest a authorities transport modernization program that drivers say may threaten the nation’s jeepneys – an necessary side of Philippine tradition and a supply of livelihood for hundreds.

In keeping with The Related Press, drivers and supporters marked the start of the strike with a loud rally in Quezon Metropolis, a suburb of Manila, after which they proceeded in a convoy to a authorities transport regulatory workplace to press their protest. At the least 100,000 jeepney drivers and operators are anticipated to participate within the strike.

“We’re calling on the general public to help the transport strike in any approach attainable,” Renato Reyes Jr. of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, a left-wing political alliance Bayan, which was backing the strike, advised the AP. “The inconvenience of the transport stoppage is short-term, however the lack of livelihood of drivers and operators could be long-term.”

The reason for the strike is the Public Utility Automobile Modernization Program, launched by the Division of Transportation in 2017, which goals to switch previous passenger jeepneys and buses with fashionable autos. Alternative autos are required to have electrical engines or a Euro 4-compliant inside combustion engine, along with different security options.

Opponents of the plan say that almost all jeepney drivers won’t be able to afford to buy new passenger jeepneys, even with the promised authorities subsidies. In keeping with a report in The Guardian, a standard diesel-powered jeepney prices between 150,000 to 250,000 Philippine pesos, whereas a contemporary jeepney that’s Euro 4-compliant can price as a lot as 10 instances that.

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The colorfully festooned jeepney is a totemic instance of Filipino flamboyance and ingenuity. Initially tailored from army jeeps left by the U.S. Military after World Warfare II, jeepneys have turn into a vital a part of the transport system in lots of Philippine cities, the place mass public transport choices are sometimes restricted or inefficient.

The centrality of the jeepney to the transport circuitry of Manila and different cities signifies that the strike, which may maintain greater than 40,000 passenger jeepneys and vans off the streets of Manila, is prone to create critical disruptions. Certainly, the native authorities in Manila and its numerous satellite tv for pc suburbs have advised colleges to change to distance studying courses, one thing that they’re properly aware of following the prolonged COVID-19 lockdowns, during the strike. The native authorities of Quezon Metropolis, essentially the most populous metropolis within the Philippines, additionally known as on companies to work on-line the place attainable. Native governments have additionally made autos out there to assist the general public go about their enterprise.

The Division of Transport is true that some type of emissions improve for jeepneys is important. These “kings of the street” spew out thick diesel exhaust that contributes to the poor air high quality in lots of Philippines cities. The query is how you can enhance the know-how of those autos with out impoverishing the hundreds of drivers who depend on them for his or her livelihoods – usually on very skinny margins. In keeping with one estimate, jeepney drivers take residence common each day pay of 755 pesos (round $13.70).

Whereas Philippine lawmakers have championed the pursuits of jeepney drivers, feedback from authorities officers don’t provide a lot confidence in a mutual lodging. Vice President Sara Duterte, who can also be the nation’s schooling secretary, known as the strike “communist-inspired” and “a painful interference in our efforts to deal with the training gaps and different woes in our schooling system.” The truth that some within the Philippine institution are keen to dismiss requires higher working situations on this approach solely underlines the necessity for mass industrial motion on the a part of drivers.