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At least four government agencies have joined forces to mitigate the impact of the week-long transport strike that will be carried out by some transport groups starting Monday, March 6.

In a statement, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said it will issue special permits to some public utility vehicles which will serve as augmentation to operators and drivers that will not join the strike.

LTFRB Technical Division Chief Joel Bolano said the special permits will mostly cover areas monitored to be affected by the protest action.

“All offices of the LTFRB nationwide are ready to issue special permits. In fact, there was already a coordination meeting with some government agencies in the past two days to address this issue,” said Bolano.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), on the other hand, said it will deploy at least 25 vehicles in various parts of Metro Manila to assist commuters who would be stranded by the transport strike.

 MMDA Acting Chairman Atty. Don Artes said contingency measures were already in place to ensure that the commuting public will not be inconvenienced and transportation operations will not be paralyzed during the seven-day transport strike.

He said a total of 25 vehicles are ready to be deployed, including 4 air-conditioned buses, 2 non-air-conditioned buses, and 13 commuter vans.

“These libreng sakay vehicles that we will deploy starting Monday can carry around 1,200 passengers per trip,” Artes said.

“We assure the public that we are ready and our assets and resources are readily available for dispatch to areas where there are reported stranded commuters to not compete against those transport groups who will not be joining the strike,” he added.

Artes also said they are currently assessing whether there is a need to suspend the expanded number coding scheme during the said week as the inter-agency task force has yet to determine the affected routes and weigh the possible effects of the strike. 

“We also encourage the public to remain in their homes, especially on Monday, if there are no important matters which they have to attend to,” Artes advised.

On the part of the Department of National Defense,  Assistant Secretary Henry Robinson said  the DND is ready to deploy their vehicles to the inter-agency task force.

For his part, Metro Manila police chief Maj. Gen. Edgar Alan Okubo said he had already instructed all police forces in the National Capital Region to launch free ride activities starting 1 a.m. on March 6.

He said a total of a total of 10 vehicles including five Hino shuttle buses, one mini bus, two Isuzu trucks, and two Hino trucks will be mobilized during the transport strike to ferry affected commuters all over the metropolis.

“This initiative aims to accommodate the needs of the public who will be greatly affected by the said transport strike,” said Okubo.

MMDA General Manager Usec. Procopio Lipana, who is also the head of the inter-agency secretariat, warned motorists who will take advantage of the situation in the next few days.

“We will have our full deployment in the MMDA and in the Philippine National Police – National Capital Region Police Office (PNP-NCRPO) and we are on alert in case there will be incidents of snubbing and overcharging passengers,” said Lipana.

The MMDA is set to deploy more than 2000 personnel to monitor situations on the ground who are tasked to give immediate feedback and reports as to areas where there are stranded commuters.

Okubo, on the other hand, said a total of 4,356 policemen will be deployed in different areas of concern particularly on passenger pick up and drop off points.

“This is in response to any adverse situation that may transpire arising from the misunderstanding between the groups of drivers who will join the strike and those who will not,” said Okubo.

The deployment includes 700 Civil Disturbance Management (CDM) contingents, 1,019 in major thoroughfares, 569 in transportation hubs/terminal, 582 in commercial areas, 611 in other places of convergence, and 875 Reactionary Standby Support Force (RSSF) personnel will be placed on stand-by ready to be deployed at anytime.

Okubo also stressed out that the deployment will persevere until the termination of the transport strike and the situation returns to normal.

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