BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The provincial government of Negros Occidental has started making contingency plans relative to a local transport group’s threat to protest the incessant increase in oil prices via a five-day strike.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson is concerned about the adverse effects of the strike, especially on capitol employees.
Maybe we have to do some carpooling so they can still go to work,” said Lacson.
United Negros Drivers and Operators Center (UNDOC) secretary-general Diego Malacad said they are planning to conduct a five-day strike by the end of this month.
UNDOC has two demands to the national government so it won’t push through with the strike – defer the full implementation of the 12-percent value added tax on fuel and suspend the excise tax also on fuel.
The group, too, is calling on the city government of Bacolod to recall its endorsement of the government’s transport modernization program.
Bacolod City councilor Dindo Ramos, who chairs the city council’s committee on transportation and traffic, said UNDOC’s demand to recall the council;’s endorsement of the transport modernization program is not possible as the modernization program of public utility vehicles (PUVs) is a “national policy.”
The incessant increase in fuel prices stems from the adverse economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Gas prices again soared yesterday by as much as P3.80 per liter of gasoline and P5.50 per liter of diesel./PN
