Philippine jeepney drivers on 12-day strike to protest shift to EV-powered minibuses
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It remains to be seen how the government will react to one of the longest transport protests in the Philippines.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
MANILA – Philippine jeepney drivers started a 12-day strike on Dec 18 to protest against the phase-out of the iconic mode of public transportation
They are demonstrating against a Dec 31 government deadline for jeepney operators to surrender their franchises and consolidate into cooperatives in line with a programme to replace the ubiquitous,fuel-guzzling vehicles with minibuses whose motors are mostly powered by electricity.
Public transport operators are also asking for more financial support
About 70 per cent of operators have already committed to the programme, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said last week, and they can continue providing services until the end of 2024.
Those who will not meet the year-end deadline would immediately lose their permits to operate.
While the six-year-old programme supports the country’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 75 per cent by the end of the decade from 2020 levels, the government wants to balance the initiative by shielding those affected by the shift to electric vehicles (EVs) and prevent them from losing their livelihood.
For the drivers’ group Manibela, the impact of the transition to EVs is going to be worse than the effect of the pandemic that idled much of public transport.
Jeepneys are the cheapest mode of transport for many of the nation’s 110 million people.
It remains to be seen how the government will react to one of the longest transport protests in the country, considering that previous attempts failed to paralyse
Earlier in 2023, official data showed that only 4 per cent of the roughly 160,000 jeepneys have been replaced by EVs. BLOOMBERG
