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BY MAE SINGUAY
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Saturday, February 25, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Transport groups in Negros Island Region are staging a massive “people’s strike” on Monday, Feb. 27.
The United Negros Drivers and Operators Center (Undoc) and the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston) will protest the proposed phaseout of public utility vehicles 15 years and older.
Undoc secretary-general Diego Malacad said they will also call against oil deregulation and the planned imposition of excise tax on petroleum products.
Department of Transportation secretary Arturo Tugade is pushing for the phaseout, said Malacad. “Small operators and stakeholders will be affected.”
The government should instead push for “vehicle rehabilitation,” he said.
Meanwhile Malacad claimed that a higher excise tax could increase the price of crude oil to P6 by March 15.
“Because of the neoliberal programs of the government, the transport sector is suffering,” the Undoc leader said.
Major transport sector problems cannot be solved because Cabinet members push for policies without consulting stakeholders, stressed Malacad.
Starting in the morning, Monday’s transport strike in Negros is expected to end around 4 p.m.
Undoc and Piston members will have a “campout” on Magsaysay, Libertad, Burgos, Lopue’s East, and Ramos streets and at the North Terminal in Barangay Bata.
After which, they will head to the Fountain of Justice at the old city hall for a culminating program./PN
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