PISTON denounces the government-imposed nationwide crackdown on unconsolidated jeepneys starting today, May 16, as a deliberate massacre of transport workers’ livelihoods and an attack on the people’s right to accessible and affordable public transport. Even two weeks after the April 30 deadline, the Marcos government has yet to lay out concrete plans for supporting and…
It is especially daunting that on May 1, 2024, as the world commemorates the International Labor Day, jeepney drivers and operators who refuse to partake in the corporate-driven and foreign-oriented public transport modernization program of the Marcos regime and its franchise consolidation policy are designated as illegal, or colorum, by the very same government entrusted…
PISTON condemns the outrageous police deployment in response to today’s strike. Massive police presence were seen blocking the University Ave in UP Diliman, Monumento, E. Rodriguez Ave., Welcome Rotonda, and España Blvd. Police were reportedly barring jeepney drivers, operators, and supporters from holding peaceful assemblies and demonatrations. Police were even coercing and threatening drivers and…
Accusing filmmaker Jade Castro and his three companions as responsible for the minibus arson in Quezon Province solely based on a social media post criticizing the PUV modernization program (PUVMP) poses a significant danger to dissenters of such anti-poor government policies. Regardless of the actual culprits in the Quezon minibus arson, authorities must acknowledge that…
The hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation on the PUV Modernization Program (PUVMP) on Wednesday, attended by PISTON and Tanggol Pasada Network, has once again exposed the failures of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), and the PUVMP. It tackled the recently issued LTFRB Memorandum…