The Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston) and the Samahang Manibela Mananakay at Nagka-Isang Terminal ng Transportasyon (Manibela) declared the two-day transport strike on September 23-24 by jeepney drivers and operators as successful. The strike is part of their ongoing opposition to the foreign Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP) and demand for the return of their individual franchises.

Piston said the paralysis reached 90% on major routes in Metro Manila for two consecutive days. Associations of drivers and operators installed 11 strike and protest centers on these days. Many reported that the strike disrupted travel despite claims of the Marcos regime and its transportation officials that the transport strike had no effect.

Apart from the national capital, groups in Calabarzon, Baguio, Bicol, Negros, Panay and other regions also held transport strikes and protests. Local organizations called on their respective local governments and agencies to scrap the local public transport plans (LPTRPs) the local versions of the PTMP.

Piston said “the government may have renamed the program, but drivers and operators have long been holding protests and strikes against the PTMP and its consequent privatization of public transportation.”

Drivers and operators assert that the PTMP’s pro-foreign orientation will kill the livelihood of many ordinary Filipinos and slow down the development of the traditional jeep’s local manufacturing.

Prior to the transport strike, Piston and Manibela leaders and members experienced numerous human rights attacks. On September 18, six leaders of drivers and operators in Bacolod were arrested while they were protesting. Meanwhile, Manibela’s Facebook page was deleted on September 22 constituting censorship.

“On the first day of the transport strike itself, police heavily dotted the established centers of the transport strike and protest,” Piston said. Amid the attacks, the two groups declared that these only serve as basis for them to continue to hold the Marcos administration responsible.

Meanwhile, Piston president and Koalisyong Makabayan senatorial candidate Mody Floranda, went to the Supreme Court again on September 22 to file a Motion to Resolve to immediately respond to its December 2023 petition for a Temporary Restraining Order against the PTMP.