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[av_heading heading=’SCHOOLS TO OPEN DESPITE STRIKE | Nothing can derail resumption of classes – DepEd’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Monday, May 22, 2017
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ILOILO City – Classes will definitely resume despite the transport strike on June 5 and 6, according to the Department of Education (DepEd) Region 6.
Anticipating the adverse effects of the two-day strike, DepEd will be coming up with a contingency plan, said its regional office’s spokesperson, Lea Belleza.
The plan will be discussed during the national orientation for DepEd’s Oplan Balik Eskwela that starts today in Metro Manila.
Belleza did not discount the possibility that some students and teachers may be stranded, especially those from the provinces but are going to schools in Iloilo City.
“Some may decide be absent from class,” added Belleza, but “Tuloy gid ya ang opening sang klase.”
The two-day transport strike is a protest against the modernization program of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board which includes phasing out public utility jeepneys 15 years old and older.
This would be the second strike of jeepney drivers and operators in three months. They joined a nationwide strike just this Feb. 27 against the jeepney phaseout.
In the February transport strike, this city’s Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog was forced to order the suspension of classes in all levels.
For this second wave of strike, the city government has started preparing early. According to City Administrator Hernando Galvez, government vehicles will be mobilized to transport stranded passengers.
“Tanan naton nga salakyan sa City Engineer’s Office, General Services Office and Disaster Risk Disaster and Management Office will be deployed,” said Galvez.
Even the vehicles of the Iloilo City Emergency Responders and fire trucks will be utilized, he added.
The provincial government of Iloilo, too, is bracing for the transport strike.
“We will extend the needed assistance to ensure that our children can go to school and our employees to report the office,” said Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr.
All municipalities would be directed to mobilize their available vehicles to offer free rides for residents.
Defensor specifically said provincial capitol service vehicles, ambulances and trucks, among others, would be used.
The governor also said the “no work, no pay” policy would not be applied to government employees who would not be able to report to office while teachers would be encouraged to excuse children who would be absent on June 5 and 6.
When jeepney drivers and operators joined the nationwide strike in February, Defensor coordinated with the local chief executives in every municipality to make contingency plans.
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office and other concerned offices were also tapped to provide assistance to the public.
Raymundo Parcon, president of the Iloilo City Loop Alliance of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association, said they wanted to make their protest massive and crippling.
Taxis, however, may offer stranded passengers some relief. They are not joining the jeepney strike, according to Perfecto Yap, president of the Association of Taxi Operators in Panay./PN
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