Lost opportunity in jeepney strike

And so, the much-ballyhooed “tigil-pasada” of public utility jeeps has come and gone. Alas, for the second time in less than a month. The leaders of the participating drivers’ unions, who are against the government’s plan to phase out their old vehicles, will in due course shout their voices hoarse in both radio and television to once again boast of the success of their movement to paralyze the mass transportation system nationwide for one whole day (Feb. 27)—from dawn till dusk. For one thing, classes in all levels had to be suspended; for another, employees going to and from their places of work were at the mercy of the limited free-ride transport units provided by the government.

Excuse me, but this happened not in my home province, Batangas, where everything went normal. Neither, as far as I know, did the Batangueño drivers join the strike staged last Feb. 6.

I am not in the habit of lifting my own chair, so to speak. But truth to tell, on the day the planned second transport strike was first announced in the media, Batangas was the single relatively well-urbanized region that was not on the list of strike-joining provinces from Luzon to the Visayas to Mindanao. That was kind of heartwarming (nakakataba ng puso) for every Batangueño. And it should not be simply left unnoticed.

Ours is known to be a region of the brave, what with our popular fan knife called “balisong”; as well as, historically, being among the first revolutionists against Spain, symbolized by the eight rays of the sun on our flag, one of which represents our province. As far back as I can proudly recall, Batangueños are never known to join militant activities in modern times that would compromise the interests of the common good.

Perhaps—well, just perhaps (God, forgive me if it isn’t true)—this may be one reason why our province, generally speaking, has been rarely visited by natural calamities as disastrous as those that devastate other regions in the archipelago year in, year out. To be sure, the worst that the media have ever reported about Batangas is its being under Signal No. 2 during the typhoon season. And our gratitude to the Almighty knows no bounds for this uncommon blessing.

Having said that, methinks the last jeepney strike need not end up totally useless—that is, if only the concerned government agencies had conducted an honest-to-goodness test regarding the pollution levels actually obtaining at least in Metro Manila at the height of the Feb. 27 strike, and had the results thereof published alongside corresponding levels in normal times, then they would have been able to avail themselves of the opportunity to prove—through telling numbers—how intolerably hazardous to human health the polluted emissions from old jeepney engines had so far brought into our midst and times.

Who knows, this might finally convince our jeepney drivers to cooperate with the state’s long-consuming objective of phasing out their old vehicles in order to give way to newer and more environment-friendly ones. Failing that, expect other strikes to sooner or later come.

RUDY L. CORONEL, rudycoronel [email protected]