Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 13) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday warned transport group Piston that police and military forces may use rubber bullets against them if they continue with their protests against the jeepney modernization program.
“Itong Piston, hindi raw sila magsunod. Ganito raw… Sabi ko, sige, subukan natin. I’m preparing the Armed Forces and the police to buy rubber bullets, prepare for truncheons,” Duterte said at the conferment ceremony of the 2016 Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities at the Malacañang.
[Translation: Piston said they will not follow. I said, let’s try it. I’m preparing the Armed Forces and the police to buy rubber bullets, prepare for truncheons.]
“I don’t care if we go into turmoil. That’s what I like. I thrive in turmoil. Talagang guguyurin ko ‘yang mga sasakyan ninyo [I will really drag your vehicles]. The law is the law is the law,” he added.
Piston, or Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide, along with other transport groups, has staged multiple transport strikes nationwide, affecting numerous commuters.
They have been protesting the Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) Modernization Program, which Duterte said was needed to lessen air pollution.
“We all know that we are really being killed almost everyday slowly. Kita mo naman fumes [You can see the fumes]…It’s very hot today. But makita mo ‘yang mist, it’s almost floating over the city. Those are fumes, carbon dioxide and all,” Duterte said.
Under the modernization program, PUVs more than 15 years old will be banned from the road, and will be replaced by vehicles with “low-carbon and low-emission technology.”
According to the Transportation department, there are a little less than 180,000 public utility jeepneys, which comprise 57 percent of the total PUVs.
Previously, the department also cited jeepneys as the “biggest source” of carbon dioxide emission.
The modernization program will also stop giving franchise to single-unit operators.
To ease the burden on jeepney operators, the government has given access to financing program.
On Monday, the Senate Committee on Public Services chair Grace Poe revealed in a hearing that the government’s offered subsidy of ₱80,000 per unit is not enough for the operators.
The transport groups have earlier scheduled another two-day nationwide strike, but was postponed to give way to the hearing.
Earlier, Duterte said jeepneys that don’t comply with the modernization program by January 1, 2018, will be removed from the roads.
