3-day transport strike set this week

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April 14, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Transport group Manibela will mount a three-day nationwide strike that will coincide with the government’s rollout of the service contracting program this week.

During a press conference yesterday, Manibela chairman Mar Valbuena said they will lead the strike from April 15 to 17, urging the government to roll back fuel prices to P55 per liter.

Valbuena said this is their response to the government’s inadequate action on the country’s oil price shocks.

“We don’t believe the government cannot do something about this,” he said. “The government did not exercise, particularly the Department of Energy (DOE), its powers and mandates to prevent the excessive hikes on petroleum product prices.”

Valbuena estimates that at least 500,000 public utility vehicle (PUV) operators and drivers will join the strike tomorrow, including units from Visayas and Mindanao.

He said oil companies have profited P35 billion since pump prices went up in the last 45 days due to the conflict in the Middle East.

These increases, he noted, were implemented even though firms still have a one-month buffer.

“The price hikes have doubled to tripled, even reaching over 200 percent,” he said, stressing that oil firm owners earned windfall profits from price adjustments reflected in the incoming stocks.

Members of the transport group report that drivers only take home P100 to P200 for their families, as around P2,800 is spent on diesel.

Additionally, Valbuena said that the P46 billion collected from the value-added tax shows how much has been taken from Filipinos.

Around 45 percent of Manibela’s members have stopped plying their routes because of the expensive operational costs.

Valbuena criticized President Marcos’ pushback against suspending oil taxes, despite Congress granting him the power to do so.

“You’ve already been given the power, but you still refuse to use it. Why are you allowing this?” Valbuena asked. “Are you enjoying the profits? Are you benefiting from the earnings of these oil companies? Are you complicit?”

Valbuena also criticized the service contracting scheme for being too limited, with only around 50,000 units eligible to participate and was not properly coordinated with PUV drivers and operators.

With discounts up to 40 percent, he said drivers will be at a disadvantage as they will shoulder fuel loading into their units while waiting for an uncertain payout schedule.

“Where will the funds to cover the discount come from if there’s still no payment?” Valbuena raised.

Manibela maintained that only the suspension of VAT and Excise Tax and price rollback to P55 per liter will avert the transport sector’s woes in the ongoing crisis.

Resign, Garin told

Manibela also slammed DOE Secretary Sharon Garin over her pessimism about price rollbacks, describing her as a “spokesperson” of big oil firms in the country.

“To DOE Secretary Sharon Garin: You’re useless. You should resign!” Valbuena said.

“Instead of hearing from you that it’s a big deal that we can return to the old prices, you are conditioning people’s minds to believe that fuel will no longer go back to P60,” he added.

Cooperation urged

Responding to the planned transport strike, Malacañang said transport groups should instead help find solutions to mitigate the effects of soaring fuel prices.

“We believe the holding of a transport strike is untimely,” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said at a press briefing yesterday.

“They say slow action, but they can see themselves what the President and the administration have been doing for the transport sector. They were in fact, prioritized,” she added. — Helen Flores