BACOLOD City – Several drivers and operators of public utility jeepneys staged a protest in front of the old city hall appealing for help and demanding for the resumption of jeepney operations.
Diego Malacad, secretary general of the United Negros Drivers and Operators Center (UNDOC), said the city government must assist them because they were directly affected by the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
Part of the MECQ was the suspension of all forms of public transport in the city until Sept. 30.
Malacad said they were requesting city officials to allow them to operate even if 50 percent only.
While the city government, indeed, gave displaced drivers food packs (rice and noodles), he said these were expiring or already expired.
Councilor Dindo Ramos, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod’s committee on transportation, said he respected the position of the transport sector and pointed out that the city council passed a resolution calling for financial and food assistance.
Now, he said, the next move must come from the city mayor.
Meanwhile, 934 jeepney drivers were contracted by the city government to service health and essential workers under its “Libre Sakay” program while the city is under MECQ.
The city government agreed to pay each jeepney P300 per trip or a total of P3,000 for all 10 trips per day.
Jeepney stops were designated in seven villages with the city’s public plaza as the central drop-off area.
The trips start in barangays Granada, Estefania, Bata, Handumanan, Mansilingan, Banago, and Sum-ag.
Each route has been assigned six jeepneys – three for medical workers and three for essential services personnel.
There are 10 trips in each route from 4:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., with an interval of two hours between trips.
City residents going to the markets or traveling to purchase essential goods can board the jeepneys if they present home quarantine passes.
The Bacolod Traffic Authority Office assigned one personnel per route to assist the passengers.
As of Sept. 21, Bacolod has 3,324 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,998 recoveries, 1,275 active cases and 51 deaths./PN
