ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines – It was business as usual in Iloilo City despite the land transport strike staged by collective transport group, Kahublagan Kontra Kartel (KKK) last Monday and which ended yesterday, Tuesday.

City loop jeepneys were seen plying Iloilo City streets on both days even as jeepney operators and drivers belonging to the KKK went on transport holiday. Still, the transport group maintained that their strike efforts were 99 percent successful.

“We are declaring overwhelming victory, with at least 99 percent of commuters paralyzed,” said Edgar Salarda, who heads Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytors Nationwide (PISTON)-Panay, one of the organizations in the KKK transport collective.

Other groups under KKK are the Iloilo City Alliance of Drivers Association (ICADA), Iloilo City Jeepney Owners and Drivers Association (ICAJODA), Federation of Iloilo Jeepney Owners and Drivers Association (FIJODA), and Bayan-Panay.

Salarda could very well have been referring to jeepneys plying provincial routes. The scarcity of out-of-town jeepneys was apparent in all major jeep transport terminals including Tagbak, Ungka, M.H. del Pilar, Super, Mohon, and

Pavia People’s Terminal, with passengers waiting over 30 minutes up to an hour to catch a ride for various destinations.

The KKK continues to urge the Aquino administration to junk the oil deregulation law and the 12-percent Reformed Value-Added Tax (RVAT) on oil. It noted that oil prices have risen 13 times since January 2011, resulting to a price increase of P10.10 per liter of diesel and P10.20 per liter of gasoline.

Aside from city loop jeepneys, other transport groups continued to transport passengers, including taxis, tricycles, and trisikads.

Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. and Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog provided government vehicles such as dump trucks to transport stranded passengers. The city government utilized the eight e-jeepneys it owns.

Vallacar Transit, owner of Ceres Liner, offered free rides from certain points of the city to the various transport terminals.

Big trucks belonging to the Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Army (PA), and the Department of Public Works & Highways (DPWH) also augmented the vehicles provided by both the provincial and city governments.