Transport group Manibela expects that up to 45,000 to 50,000 drivers and operators from Metro Manila will participate in the three-day transport strike starting July 24.
Caused by the group’s efforts to arouse the attention of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. due to the government’s alleged lack of urgency in responding to their grievances related to the PUV modernization program, the stoppage will coincide with the President’s second SONA.
He expects up to 300,000 people across the country to participate in their uprising.
Manibela Chairman Mar Valbuena said some of the protesters are PUV drivers and operators who have complaints about the franchising guidelines of the modernization program which according to the group continue to be ignored by the authorities.
Despite this, several transport groups have also announced that they will not join the transport strike, such as the so-called Magnificent Seven, which includes Pasang Masda and Altodap, who prefer to go through intensive dialogue on the matter.
However, Manibela insisted that dialogues with the government since 2017 since the start of the PUV modernization program have gone nowhere, but the response he said was the phaseout of traditional jeepneys.
