MANILA — Transport group Manibela on Friday said they will launch an "indefinite" transport strike on Monday, October 16, unless their plea for the suspension of the implementation of the jeepney modernization program and the extension of the validity of their franchises are met.

“Monday ang simula kasi may protestang mangyayari. So yung tigil-pasada po, dire-diretso po ito. Kung hanggang saan aabutin yung aming sikmura ng gutom,” Manibela chairman Mar Valbuena said in a press conference.

“Pwede po mangyari na buong linggo talaga. Yun po kasi ang originally na gusto naming gawin, isang linggo talaga na tigil-pasada, isang linggong tigil-pasada at yung protesta po magdidire-diretso depende po sa mapag-uusapan uli namin bukas dahil bukas malaking pagpupulong uli namin,” he added.

The group said jeepney drivers plying 600 of the 785 routes in Metro Manila will join the transport strike Monday while around 1,000 vehicles will convene at the University of the Philippines in Diliman and at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) office along East Avenue, both in Quezon City, before heading to Mendiola, Manila to call on President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to suspend the implementation of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVPM).

The modernization program will supposedly lead to the phase-out of hundreds of thousands of traditional jeepneys nationwide.

Valbuena said that by their count, there are 300,000 traditional jeepneys nationwide while only 7,000 are modernized.

The government, he said, only provided for subsidies to modernize 1,000 jeepneys a year.

Aside from the modernization issue, the LTFRB has also required individual traditional jeepney operators to consolidate into a cooperative by the end of the year to pursue modernization.

This will entail forming a juridical entity, registering with the Office of the Transportation Cooperatives or the Securities and Exchange Commission and applying for a franchise consolidation so that they can be issued a provisional authority.

The LTFRB earlier clarified the December 31 deadline is only for consolidation, not for the phaseout of jeepneys.

But Manibela is opposing the requirement to consolidate.

Valbuena said that 80% of those who have consolidated were only forced or did so out of fear.

“Pagka-sinuspend po yung implementasyon ng PUVMP at validity ng aming prangkisa ay walang deadline, titigil na po kami,” he said.

Meanwhile, the group is maintaining its position condemning the alleged corruption in the LTFRB, despite the retraction of Jeff Tumbado, the former executive assistant of suspended LTFRB chair Teofilo Guadiz III.

Tumbado earlier alleged that Guadiz and other unnamed transportation and Malacañang officials received huge sums of money in exchange for franchises, routes, special permits and other documents from the agency.

But he later executed an affidavit claiming his public statements were “unintentional and misguided.”

• Ex-LTFRB employee recants allegations of corruption in agency

Valbuena said he believes someone talked to Tumbado to get him to retract his allegations.

“Ina-analyze natin yung naging mensahe ni [Transportation] Secretary [Jaime] Bautista. Na pagkatapos siyang tawagan ni Mr. Tumbado ay nagretract na ang ating witness. Ano kaya ang napag-usapan? Nagkapalagayan ng loob kaya?” he asked.

Valbuena said other individuals have approached him separately to complain about corruption in the LTFRB and they corroborated Tumbado’s earlier statement. They are expected to file their complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman soon.

While Valbuena welcomed the President’s move to suspend Guadiz, he said this is not enough.

“Yung idinadawit po mula dun sa regional directors hanggang doon po sa chairman ng LTFRB, hanggang DOTr, hanggang Malacañang nga po ito. Kaya kung titingnan natin, kulang yung mga sinuspinde kasi baka magkaroon pa ng whitewash kung sila-sila lang din ang magko-conduct ng investigation,” he said.

“At gusto nating sabihin na kaya kami mag-i-strike, in relation ito doon sa panggigipit sa amin, na kaya pala kami binibigyan ng taning parati, itong aming mga prangkisa, itong aming provisional authority, para maipit kami, nang sa ganun, lumapit kami sa kanila. So dapat, ibalik yung 5 years na prangkisa namin, na validity nito, at suspendihin muna pansamantala at reviewhin itong implementasyon ng PUVMP na siyang nagpapahirap sa amin,” he added.

He said that aside from jeepney drivers, other participants who will join the strike are drivers of UV express, multicabs, TNVS and taxis.

Laban TNVS pledged support for Manibela and Valbuena.

BIGGEST TRANSPORT GROUPS NOT JOINING STRIKE

The country’s biggest transport groups, the "Magnificent 7+1", however, are not joining Manibela’s strike.

“Hindi kami makikiisa o makikilahok sa tigil-pasada na pinaplano ng isang singaw na kabuteng samahan. Hindi po kami makikiisa. Kami po’y magbibigay ng serbisyo sa ating mananakay nationwide,” Pasang Masda president Obet Martin said at a press conference Friday.

Aside from Pasang Masda, the group is composed of Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (PISTON), Alliance of Concerned Transport Organization (ACTO), Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (FEJODAP), Alliance of Transport Operators’ & Drivers’ Association of the Philippines (ALTODAP), Liga ng Transportasyon at Operators sa Pilipinas (LTOP), UV Express National Alliance of the Philippines (UV Express) and Stop and Go Transport Coalition.

The group denied that there is a phaseout of public utility jeepneys and UV express.

They however welcomed the probe ordered by the President on allegations of corruption at LTFRB.

“Nagkaroon ng utos ang ating Pangulong BBM para magkaroon ng imbestigasyon sa bagy na ito. Hintayin na lang po natin ang resulta ng imbestigasyon. At kung merong dapat managot ay dapat managot sa batas,” Martin said.