BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Local transport group United Negros Drivers and Operators Center (UNDOC) announced over the weekend its members will stage a two-day strike instead of the previously announced five-day transport holiday in the last week of March.
UNDOC secretary-general Diego Malacad said the strike will be on March 21 to 22.
The group also wants to package its protest against the incessant fuel price increases as a “people’s holiday”.
UNDOC is demanding a deferment of the excise tax and 12-percent value added tax on fuel.
Malacad said the strike was finalized during a “unity forum” last week.
The group also seeks subsidy from the national government.
Earlier, Bacolod City’s Councilor Dindo Ramos said two other transport groups – the Sentrong Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Negros (SSTONE) and the Federation of Bacolod City Drivers Association (FEBACDA) – won’t be joining the UNDOC strike.
Gas prices already soared by as much as P3.80 per liter of gasoline and P5.50 per liter of diesel last Tuesday, but another round of increase looms this week as fears of a major petroleum supply crunch sent world oil prices to a global high of $139 a barrel.
This is expected to translate to an increase of between P11.75 and P11.95 per liter for diesel, P6.90 to P7.20 per liter for gasoline, and P9.70 to P9.80 per liter of kerosene.
The spike in prices is set to be reflected at the pumps on Tuesday, March 15.
The almost weekly increases stem from the adverse economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine./PN
