The Philippine National Police (PNP) is under full alert in Metro Manila in preparation for Monday’s transport strike, ABS-CBN News reported.
PNP Director General Avelino Razon said there will be increased police visibility in the metropolis especially in areas declared by protestors as “strike centers”.
The police force in the provinces, meanwhile, will be under heightened alert.
Razon also warned transport groups participating on Monday’s strike to refrain from harassing jeepney drivers who refuse to join their cause. “It’s prohibited under the law,” he said.
The PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines will also dispatch several six-by-six trucks to provide free ride for stranded passengers.
Transport group Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (PISTON) will lead Monday’s transport strike which will start at 12:01 a.m. Monday.
PISTON said it will cease the service on 12 transport routes including Alabang, Monumento, Novaliches, Cubao and Marikina.
The group’s nationwide affiliates will join to also paralyze public transport in key areas, such as Baguio City, selected routes in Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog, and in the Bicol region.
In Visayas, the United Negros Drivers Center (UNDOC-NEGROS) in Negros Occidental and the PISTON-Panay and Hugpong Transport in Panay island will hold a two day strike on May 12-13. The group said a protest rally will also be held in Cebu.
In Mindanao, PISTON’s allied groups will hold strikes in Davao City, General Santos City, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City, Butuan City, and other areas.
PISTON will use the protest action to reiterate their demand for the scrapping of the 12 percent exapanded value added tax on oil products and the Oil Deregulation Law.
Among those supporting the protest are the University of the Philippines Transport Alliance, which is composed of 300 jeepney drivers and 200 college students, party list group Anakpawis, and AMIHAN, the National Federation of Peasant Women in the Philippines.
Other transport groups, like the 30,000-strong Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (FEJODAP), Isang United Transport Koalisyon (1-UTAK), which has about 7,000 members, and the Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations (ACTO), will not participate in the strike.