DOTr drive vs jeepneys reaches Central Luzon

ANGELES CITY — Anakpawis party-list Representative Ariel Casilao said that the series of operations by the Department of Transportation (DoTr) led by the inter agency council on traffic against supposed dilapidated public jeepneys in Metro Manila extended in some areas in Central Luzon including this city.

In a press statement, Casilao claimed that this is a “dress rehearsal” for the planned phase out of the public utility vehicle.

“There’s no doubt, the campaign of the DOTr-I-ACT under the Tanggal Bulok, Tangal Usok is in fact an operation to crackdown against jeepneys. This is just a smokescreen for the phase out and jeepney modernization plan by the Duterte government. The crackdown resulted to massive inconvenience of thousands of commuters,” Casilao added.

In this city, thousands of commuters were stranded last Wednesday when the DoTr inter-agency council conducted operations against dilapidated jeepneys.

Sun.Star Pampanga learned that jeepney drivers within the city limit avoided the DoTr’s I-ACT team which resulted to traffic jams all over the metropolis.

The Anakpawis representative urged jeepney commuters to oppose the government’s drive in what he described as “anti-people.”

“We should demand better service. It seems like this government is good only on pushing policies that are against the interest of the people like the TRAIN Law, which squeezes the public of hard earned money by imposing higher taxes but in return it cannot provide decent mass transport service,” Casilao said.

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO— To address the concerns of the onion farmers of Bongabon, Nueva Ecija, Undersecretary for High Value Crops and Rural Credit Evelyn G. Laviña attended the recent Farmers’Forum here participated in by the onion farmers.

The town of Bongabon is Nueva Ecija’s leading onion producer in the country thus dubbed as the “onion basket of the Philippines” with an average yield of 13.10 mt/ha and 25.73 mt/ha for red onions and yellow onions, respectively for the year 2016-2017.

With a theme “Responsableng Pagpapaunlad ng Pagsasaka ng Sibuyas,” the main objective of the forum is to discuss and address the problems being faced by the onion farmers of the municipality.

OIC-Municipal Agriculturist Jackielou R. Gallarde presented the current status of the onion industry in their locality.

“The harabas (armyworm) infestations affected our current onion production,” Gallarde explained

Bongabon Municipal Mayor Ricardo I. Padilla encouraged farmers to work together in resolving the infestation of armyworm. He assured them that the local government will support all programs under the agriculture sector.