PHILIPPINES TRANSPORT STRIKES: WHEN DRIVERS CAN NO LONGER AFFORD TO DRIVE

The roads told the story before the protests did.

In Casiguran, Aurora, nearly 80% of tricycle drivers simply stopped going out. In Mangaldan, Pangasinan, jeepneys cut their trips or stayed parked. In Cebu, 60 to 70% of public transport routes went dark. These were not organized strike actions — just drivers doing the math, finding that the cost of a single tank now exceeded what they could recover in a full day of passengers.

That quiet shutdown was already happening before PISTON announced anything.

THE NUMBERS BEHIND THE PARALYSIS

In late February, gasoline cost P54 per liter. Diesel was at P60. Then the United States and Israel struck Iranian nuclear and missile facilities on February 28, and global oil markets moved almost immediately. The Strait of Hormuz — the route through which about 98% of Philippine crude oil imports transit — became the source of supply anxiety worldwide.

By the week of March 10, diesel had jumped by another P17.50 to P24.25 per liter in a single pricing round. Gasoline followed with increases of P7 to P13. By late March 22, spot checks in Metro Manila showed diesel above P101 per liter in Quezon City and premium diesel reaching P120 in Pasay. Gasoline was up to P99.50 at some stations.

The Oil Deregulation Law of 1998 prevents the government from capping prices, so every global swing transmits almost directly to the pump. The peso depreciation added another layer on top.

For a jeepney driver running on diesel, a single day's fuel at P120 per liter cost more than P3,600. The P5,000 government cash subsidy would cover less than two days.

THE STRIKES: PISTON, THEN ACTO

PISTON, led by national president Mody Floranda, launched a two-day nationwide strike on March 19 and 20. Demands included removal of VAT and excise taxes on fuel, repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law, a fuel price cap at P55 per liter, a P5 fare increase, and a minimum wage of P1,200 per day. About 70,000 members were reported to have participated nationwide, with strike centers at Welcome Rotonda, Pasig, Monumento, and Marikina, and concurrent actions in Bulacan and Iloilo.

The LTFRB had approved new fare hikes effective March 19 — traditional jeepneys from P13 to P14 minimum, buses from P13 to P15 — but President Marcos suspended the hike the day before it took effect, citing the burden on commuters, workers, and students.

Floranda's response was blunt: the President should have deferred the excise tax on fuel, not the fare hike. With fuel costs eating through their income, drivers earning P200 to P300 per day had no cost relief on either end.

PISTON ended the two-day strike on March 20 without concrete government concessions. No fare hike. No tax suspension. No price cap.

Three days later, the Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations (ACTO), representing 86% of PUVs that have modernized under the government's transport program — roughly 191,730 units — called a transport holiday for March 23. ACTO president Ligaya de Luna was clear that this would not involve road blockades or protests. Vehicles would simply not go out. Operations would pause. "We really can no longer sustain this," de Luna said.

In Iloilo, over 1,000 jeepney drivers joined the holiday. The city government suspended classes.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT OFFERED

President Marcos oversaw the distribution of P5,000 cash assistance to tricycle drivers starting March 17 under the DSWD's Cash Relief Assistance program, beginning with 135 drivers at the San Juan National Government Center. The rollout was set to expand to jeepneys and buses in the weeks after.

DOTr Secretary Giovanni Lopez coordinated free rides during the strike days. Toll operators SMC and MPTC agreed to two months of expressway fee discounts for PUVs, buses, and freight vehicles starting March 23. MRT-3 and LRT-2 fares were cut by 50%.

Congress passed on third and final reading a measure granting the President emergency powers to suspend or reduce excise taxes on oil. Senator Risa Hontiveros called on the DBM to unlock a P30-billion emergency fund for PUV drivers.

Two groups — FEJODAP and LTOP — pulled back from a planned March 23 strike after being told a P2 fare increase and P10,000 subsidy might be approved. They chose talks. ACTO did not wait.

THE DEMAND NOBODY HAS ANSWERED

The transport crisis widened as it stretched through March.

Major labor groups — the Federation of Free Workers, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, and affiliated organizations — renewed calls for a legislated P200 daily wage increase. The TUCP's president put it plainly: more than five million minimum wage earners are being left behind.

They asked Congress to convene a special session for the immediate passage of the wage hike. As of March 23, no special session had been called.

Driver Tony Prado, a chapter president in the Cubao-Divisoria route, said the fuel crisis might force him to pull his child out of college. Another driver, known only as Tagan, described coming home to an empty pot — P300 for the day, not enough for a single trip to the wet market.

The P5,000 subsidy came and went. The toll discounts took effect. The free rides ran. The P200 daily wage hike demand — filed, renewed, intensified through the entire crisis — remained exactly where it started.

Unanswered.