MANILA – Even as the jeepney strike led by PISTON (Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide) went ahead for a second straight day, its impact on the public was perceived to be less than the effect of the suspension of work in government offices as well as classes in public schools as called by the Duterte Administration.
It was already past 10 p.m. of Monday when Malacañang belatedly announced the suspension of work due ostensibly to the planned second day of the strike.
Benjo Basas, Chairman of the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition, pointed out the obvious disconnect between the nationwide suspension of work and classes, and the real impact of the strike, which, in contrast, was hardly nationwide in scope.
The Coalition noted the resultant inconvenience caused to workers and students all over the archipelago when the strike was felt only in a few urban centers. It might be the better part of wisdom, it said, to leave the suspension of work and classes to local authorities who have a better grasp of things on the ground.
Even Senator Panfilo Lacson chimed in with disfavor, noting that a lot of productive work had to be forfeited because of the work suspension.
But PISTON claimed victory in its protest action, saying the fact that it had managed to cause the government to suspend work and classes only meant that its strike was successful.
Click and watch below a related report from News5’s Patricia Mangune about misgivings of the small stakeholders directed toward the claimed economic viability of the government’s jeepney modernization program:
