[sustran] fwd: Transport groups promise Estrada: No fare increase

[SUSTRAN Network Secretariat]

The Philippine Star 
(http://www.philstar.com/datedata/d08_feb8/index.htm)
8 Feb 2000

Transport groups promise Estrada: No fare increase

  Despite the recent increases in oil prices, fares in
  jeepneys, buses, taxi cabs and even tricycles all
  over the country will remain the same.

  An ecstatic President Estrada announced this
  yesterday after convincing leaders of public
  transport groups to freeze their fares.

  "I have good news for our riding public: the bus,
  jeepney, taxi and tricycle will not have any increase
  in fares," he said.

  The President, along with several of his Cabinet
  men, met with 14 transport leaders for two hours
  at Malacañang yesterday.

  During the meeting, the President explicitly
  requested that fares in all public transportation
  vehicles be frozen for the meantime to help the
  people bear the effects of the recent oil price
  increases.

  The transport leaders granted his request.

  "I cannot forget this because they gave in to our
  call to help my administration," the President said.

  Among those who attended the meeting were
  Romualdo Maranan, Efren de Luna, Medardo
  Roda, Roberto Peralta, Orlando Marquez and
  Boy Vargas for jeepney groups; Alex Yague,
  Amelia de Dios, Jose Piccio and Cesar Apolinario
  for bus groups; Luring Naval and Rene Peña for
  taxi cab groups; and Ariel Lim for tricycles and
  Jose Cortez for trucks.

  The transport leaders earlier demanded a
  50-centavo increase in their minimum fare
  following the 50- to 80-centavo hike in fuel prices.

  The country's three biggest oil companies --
  Petron, Shell and Caltex -- raised their pump
  prices almost simultaneously last week due to the
  rising cost of petroleum abroad.

  To return the favor, the President said he promised
  the transport leaders that he would make life easier
  for public utility drivers who daily face numerous
  problems on the road.

  He said he has directed Philippine National Police
  chief Deputy Director General Panfilo Lacson to
  continue with his campaign against policemen who
  ask drivers for bribes.

  And he added that he would also ask the Land
  Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board as
  well as the Land Transportation Office to be strict
  on "colorum" or illegal public vehicles. 

  The President also assured the transport leaders
  that the recently enacted Clean Air Act will not be
  immediately implemented and would instead allow
  owners of buses and jeepneys some 18 months to
  fix their vehicles and comply with the law with less
  difficulty.

  The law, which seeks to promote cleaner air,
  strongly bans smoke-belching vehicles from all
  thoroughfares. - By Marichu Villanueva 

   

Distributed for the purpose of education and research.

A. Rahman Paul BARTER
Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia
and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network)
P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia.
E-mail: sustran at po.jaring.my
URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran (under construction)

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