MMDA prepares for looming transport strike

THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) met with various government agencies on Friday to discuss the contingency plan for the transport strike set on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023.

A multi-agency command center will be established at the MMDA Communications and Command Center to monitor the developments during the strike, which transport group Manibela will hold, said MMDA General Manager Procopio Lipana.

Lipana also directed the dispatch of vehicles from local government units (LGUs) and barangay in strategic areas for swift use by affected commuters.

Transport group Manibela head Mar Valbuena confirmed to The Manila Times that they are going to push through with the strike on October 16 to protest the alleged corruption at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) headed by then chairman Teofilo Guadiz 3rd. Guadiz has since been suspended pending results of the investigation by the Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the LTFRB.

Manibela was the same transport group that staged a strike on the same day of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July but cut it short in deference to the President.