• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Militant organization BAYAN Negros yesterday issued a statement condemning the call of NTF-ELCAC spokesman Jeffrey Celis, whom they described as a serial red tagger, to arrest the leaders of the upcoming transport strike in Bacolod City.
In a statement, BAYAN Negros said that Celis alleges that the transport strike would be “economic sabotage.” It added that Celis has long been a propaganda mouthpiece for smearing legal and legitimate mass organizations such as BAYAN.
Celis, who formerly carried the alias of Ka Erick, had confessed to be a member of underground movements and militant groups for 30 years.
Celis’ red-tagging of BAYAN Negros and transport group UNDOC PISTON is a desperate attempt to minimize the jeepney drivers’ and operators’ right to dissent, the statement said.
The Bacolod Alliance of Commuters, Operators and Drivers, United Negros Drivers and Operators Center, as well as the Negros Bacolod Transport Coalition are spearheading the transport strike on May 8, in Bacolod City.
However, according to the leaders of two other transport groups, Sentrong Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators (SSTONE) and the Federation of Bacolod City Drivers Association (FEBACDA) have no plans to join the transport strike.
BAYAN Negros said that the planned strike is a legitimate form of action as the jeepney drivers and operators are the aggrieved parties of the jeepney modernization scheme and thus, the strike will push through.
It added that Celis’ calls to arrest them have no grounds, as his demands for state forces to arrest transport workers, amid a crisis threatening their very livelihood, is a greater form of sabotage than a legitimate and justified strike.
The transport groups spearheading the transport strike, are demanding the immediate implementation of the M.O. 2023-017, which allows all traditional routes to extend the provisional authority until December 31, 2023 and the suspension and review for amendment of City Ordinance 966 for the protection of jeepney drivers, operators and commuters.
The group also called on commuters to support the strike as the jeepney modernization plan would also affect fares and routes. With a broad, united front, the state will have no choice but to listen to the demands of the people, they said.*
