MANILA, Philippines – PISTON announced that it will spearhead another transport strike from Thursday to Friday, December 14 to 15, in protest of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).

The transport group is calling for the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to scrap its December 31 consolidation deadline and for the “complete removal” of the PUVMP.  

Under the current guidelines of the PUVMP, individual jeepney operators who fail to start consolidating into cooperatives or corporations by year-end will lose their right to operate.

PISTON asserted that if the year-end deadline pushes through, “approximately 80% of all PUV operators, and many drivers [would] face displacement by the end of the year.” (READ: As deadline looms, jeepney drivers must consolidate or retrain for another job)

It would be the fifth major transport strike in 2023, with Manibela holding three transport strikes earlier in the year, and PISTON launching one most recently in November.

In a previous statement issued in the wake of the last transport strike, the LTFRB made it a standard operating procedure to deploy vehicles to ferry affected commuters for free.

The LTFRB has yet to issue a statement on the upcoming transport strike. – Rappler.com