I-ACT Braces for Monday’s Transport Strike

The government through the Inter-Agency Council for Traffic (I-ACT) is ready for the transport strike that will be staged by the militant transport group Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (PISTON) on Monday, March 19, by providing alternative transportation modes to the public.

The transport strike is against the government's continued push of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) and in response to it, the government will be deploying 20 private buses along with government vehicles from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and Armed Forces of the Philippines -Joint Task Force National Capital Region (AFP-JTF NCR), to various points of Metro Manila.

The traffic council will be activating its Joint Quick Response Team (JQRT) that will monitor areas where PISTON is set to launch its protest actions, according to its spokesperson Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board member Atty. Aileen Lizada.

The fare will be PHP10 for the private non-airconditioned buses while the air-conditioned ones will b PHP12. Around 40 policemen will escort the buses.

"LTFRB enforcers as well as HPG (Highway Patrol Group) personnel together with LTO (Land Transportation Office) will be deployed to monitor the areas of engagement where PISTON will be gathering," said Lizada in a text message to reporters.

The JQRT, composed of the LTFRB, MMDA, AFP, PNP, Department of Transportation, Coast Guard, DPWH and Office of Transportation Security, will set its command and control base at the MMDA Metrobase in Makati City.