- GILBERT BAYORAN
Two transport groups are not joining the strike on May 8 in Bacolod City.
Albert Villanueva, chairman of the Sentrong Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators (SSTONE), in an interview over Bombo Radyo, said they and the Federation of Bacolod City Drivers Association (FEBACDA) have no plans of joining the transport strike, although he acknowledged that UNDOC secretary general Diego Malacad informed him about the strike.
The Bacolod Alliance of Commuters, Operators and Drivers, United Negros Drivers and Operators Center, as well as the Negros Bacolod Transport Coalition announced in a press conference Wednesday at the Negros Press Club in Bacolod City that they will stage a transport strike on May 8.
The three transport groups will also hold a rally in front of the Bacolod City Government Center to call for the abolition of the Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP), which they blamed for the non-renewal of their provisional authority from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, to continue operating as traditional public transportation.
Bacolod is the second highly-urbanized city in the Philippines to have its new local route plan approved by the LTFRB.
The LPTRP aims to provide safe, adequate, accessible, environment-friendly, and comfortable public transport to the general public, and a long-term solution to the “worsening public transportation situation in the country”./GB
