Around 80 percent of public transportation has been paralyzed due to a two-day transport strike in Bacolod City, according to the Bacolod Alliance of Commuters, Operators and Drivers (BACOD).

This only shows that the modernized jeepney units cannot yet accommodate the large number of commuters in the city, BACOD president Rudy Catedral said yesterday.

At least 600 drivers of traditional public utility vehicles (PUVs) joined the transport strike in the city from August 14 to 15, protesting the refusal of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to suspend the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP).

Transport groups said several passengers in various areas in the city were stranded during the rally.

Catedral said they are also trying to educate some PUV drivers about their cause.

He added that it still depends on the negotiations between transport groups and the local government unit, whether they will conduct a strike in the following days.

The strike was participated by members of the United Negros Drivers and Operator Center-Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Undoc-Piston), Kabacod-Negros Transport Organization (KNETCO), and BACOD.

Meanwhile, Mae Cuaycong, focal person of the Bacolod City Comprehensive Health Program, said some passengers were stranded along the flyover in Barangay Bata during the strike on Wednesday morning, August 14.

The city government temporarily used their transport units, which included vans and buses, to accommodate the stranded passengers.

Under PTMP, the former PUV Modernization Program, traditional PUV operators are required to form cooperatives or corporations to gain access to business financing and acquire modernized jeepney units.

Traditional jeepneys will be replaced with modernized vehicles compliant with Euro 4 engines, as part of efforts to reduce air pollution.

PUV drivers and operators complained about replacing their vehicles with Euro 4 compliant ones as the cost could reach at least P2 million for only one unit./WDJ