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Sunday, October 22, 2017
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ILOILO City – Militant transport group Pinag-Isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper and Operators Nationwide (Piston) Panay chapter condemned President Rodrigo Duterte for calling out legal progressive organizations as legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines and were in alleged conspiracy to commit rebellion.
Edgar Salarda, president and spokesperson of Piston-Panay, said this accusation put the lives of their members at risk and those of their other allied progressive mass organizations.
Piston-Panay held a protest caravan on Oct. 16 against the government’s plan to phase out jeepneys 15 years old and older.
The President’s blabbering could aggravate the current spate of killings and impunity of law enforcers, various paramilitary groups and alleged state-sponsored vigilantes, warned Salarda.
“Red-tagging legal organizations critical of the present regime is not new. This is an expected response from the reactionary government so keen in using force to combat critics, no matter their legal standing. More particularly in our country’s history, most notable was the dark days of the Marcos martial law that Duterte patterns after to be,” said Salarda.
In a statement during the Oct. 16-17 nationwide transport strike, the President said if members of Piston try to deter the implementation of the government’s jeepney modernization plan, he would order their arrest.
Salarda reminded President Duterte that transport strikes and mass protest mobilizations were rights enshrined in the Constitution.
“To his critics, President Duterte flaunts the immaturity of a child crying over spilt milk instead of actually finding solutions to the criticisms presented upon him. Piston is not against modernization or any policy or law that is beneficial to the people. What Piston is against is the blatant use of government as business and profit-building of certain companies, families and individuals, at the expense of the poor,” said Salarda.
The local transport leader warned that many families will be economically dislocated by the jeepney phaseout. By his group’s estimate, some 24,000 drivers in Panay Island would be displaced.
According to Piston-Panay, the phaseout would deny the drivers of their livelihood without really resolving the problems such as pollution and traffic that it purportedly seeks to address.
Under the modernization plan, jeepney operators will reportedly be forced to buy brand new units only from manufacturers accredited by the Land Transportation Office.
“This arrangement smacks of opportunism and greed in the guise of transport modernization. The plan is clearly about making money,” said Salarda.
If the government really wanted to reduce air pollution, said Salarda, there is an alternative to phasing out old jeepneys – requiring operators to overhaul their engines and closely monitor if this is being complied.
Even jeepney mechanics will be dislocated by the phaseout, said Salarda./PN
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