Legazpi City - A region-wide transport strike has resulted in paralyzing up to 85% of public transportation in Bikol. A week-long preparation culminated in a strike that paralyzed 70-80% of transportation in Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, and Masbate. In Albay, the figure is higher at 95%.
This was according to Condor-Piston (Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform-Pagkakaisa Ng Mga Samahan Ng Tsuper At Opereytor Nationwide) Regional Director Joel Ascutia. Members of the transport sector are asking for a suspension and revocation of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Orders 2008-38 and 2009-39 which seek to hike fines and administrative fees.
Ascutia maintains that the department orders "are unreasonable and add only to the burdens of drivers and conductors and their families. They are driving our families to hunger". He adds that the region-by-region implementation of the orders through the Land Transportation Office (LTO) is proof of the DOTC's unusual haste in promulgating the new rates.
In a public hearing held last April 21, the House Committee on Transportation decided that there were irregularities in the DOTC orders and issued a suspension order. Ascutia says that the DOTC has refused to cooperate with the suspension order a week after its issuance.
The transport sector leader also criticized the "Big Three" oil companies, Shell Pilipinas, Petron, and Caltex for "making huge profits and taking advantage of the oil deregulation law". He adds that the oil deregulation law has only added to the problems encountered by drivers and conductors.
Based on the Peso-Dollar exchange rate and the current oil prices in the world market, diesel should come in at Php20 per liter while gasoline should only cost Php30. Average gas prices in Bikol are Php25 per liter for diesel and Php38 per liter for gasoline.
"Why should the Big Three increase their prices when the world oil prices are stable?" Ascutia asks.
Meanwhile, Vincent Casilihan of Karapatan Bicol expressed support for the transport strike. According to him, "The transport sector deserves to be supported by civic groups because they make possible the transportation of people and products essential to society".
Casilihan called on the government to scrap the oil deregulation law because it "only gives the Big Three more strength to become an oil cartel. Why is it that small players have lower gas prices than the Big Three? The different oil companies get their fuel from the same refinery. That only means that the three major companies are profit-oriented".