TRANSPORT group Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (PISTON) on Monday said they are holding another nationwide transport strike on Dec. 14 and 15 in protest of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).
Mody Floranda, PISTON national president, said about 100,000 members are expected to participate.
The group is calling on the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to scrap its Dec. 31 consolidation deadline and for the “complete removal” of the PUVMP.
Should the government refuse to heed their appeal, “PISTON has no other option but to extend the transport strike,” he said.
Floranda said other groups have signified interest to join their strike.
It would be the fifth major transport strike in 2023, with the group Manibela holding three transport strikes earlier in the year, and PISTON launching one most recently in November.
Floranda called on the Department of Transportation to revoke Department Order 2017-011 and lift the Dec. 31 deadline for transport groups to consolidate into a corporation or a cooperative.
Various transport leaders fear of losing their terminals if they would not consolidate.
Those also joining the strike are PISTON-allied groups in Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog, Floranda said. 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.