BAYAN Negros condemned the call of a “serial red tagger” to arrest the leaders of the upcoming transport strike in Bacolod City.
Jeffrey Celiz, “National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict mouthpiece”, alleged that the transport strike in Bacolod on Monday would be “economic sabotage”, BAYAN Negros said in a press release Friday, May 5.
His demands for state forces to arrest transport workers amid a crisis threatening their very livelihood is a greater form of sabotage than a legitimate and justified strike, BAYAN said.
Red tagging BAYAN Negros and transport group UNDOC PISTON is a desperate attempt to minimize the jeepney drivers’ and operators’ right to dissent, the press release said.
Celiz has long been a propaganda mouthpiece for smearing legal and legitimate mass organizations such as BAYAN, it added.
The planned strike on May 8 is a legitimate form of action as the jeepney drivers and operators are the aggrieved parties of the jeepney modernization scheme and thus, the strike will push through, Bayan said.
Their demands include the immediate implementation of Memorandum Order 2023-017, which allows all traditional routes to extend the provisional authority until Dec. 31, 2023, and the suspension and review for amendment of City Ordinance 966 for the protection of jeepney drivers, operators and commuters.
The Bacolod Alliance of Commuters, Operators and Drivers, Negros Bacolod Transport Coalition and the United Negros Drivers and Operators Center announced that they are staging a transportation strike in Bacolod City on Monday.
BAYAN Negros reiterated its support for the demands of jeepney drivers and operators.
“The local government units must heed their calls in light of the modernization scheme that alienates the drivers and small operators. We also call on commuters to support the strike as the jeepney modernization plan would also affect their fares and routes. With a broad, united front, the state will have no choice but to listen to the demands of the people,” it said.
Elizabeth Katalbas of the Federation of Bacolod City Drivers Associations and Eduardo “Junjun” Asis of Sentrong Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Negros (SSTONE) on Thursday, May 4, said their groups are not joining the strike on Monday.
Bacolod Councilor Al Victor Espino, Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Transportation chairman, said he expects that the majority of the public utility jeepneys will continue to operate on Monday.*