University Student Council-UPLB
University of the Philippines-Los Baños

  PRESS RELEASE                                                        
  February 26, 2008          
                                                  
    REFERENCE      Leo XL Fuentes, USC-UPLB Chairperson
                              NUSP-ST secretary general
                                                                      
    
Drivers paralyze transport in UPLB; students support transport strike amid continuing protests for GMA ouster
   
  Los Baños, Laguna – Jeepney drivers here held a transport strike
 today paralyzing Lopez Avenue, the main road leading to the UP Los
 Baños campus to air their calls against “unjust policies” of the UPLB
 administration.  Led by the Los Baños Calamba Transport Federation
 (LBCTF), the transport strike took place from 6:00 AM to 4:00 PM and was
 supported by students led by the University Student Council-UPLB.
   
  Since August 2007, the UPLB adminstration imposed a “dry-run”
 rerouting scheme inside the campus without clear reasons and democratic
 consultations.  The scheme was opposed by the drivers, students,
 teachers, and other sectors in the university and Los Baños community because
 the new route no longer passed through the main university buildings
 where passengers mostly get off and take a ride.  The route is longer for
 drivers.  Drivers compute a loss of P200-P300 in their daily income
 because of the rerouting.
   
  The drivers also decried the ID system that is being imposed by the
 UPLB administration.  Drivers are being required to sign application
 forms stating that they will follow all the rules and regulations inside
 the campus. But the drivers complained that this encompassing statement
 would essentially mean they automatically approve of and could not
 complain against whatever new policies the UPLB administration will
 implement which they still have no knowledge of.  
   
  “These adminstration policies only add to our burden as drivers who
 are already suffering due to the non-stop increase in oil price,”
 LBCTF president Danilo Lescano said.  “But we have no choice but to
 sacrifice one day of our income because until now our calls remain
 unheeded.”
   
  At around 3PM, drivers march inside the UPLB campus together with the  students as part of the week-long series of activities calling for Arroyo’s ouster and as part of its build-up campaign for the February 29 inter-faith
 rally they will take part in.  The students held a short program before
 converging with drivers and marching back to the UPLB gate in support of
 the transport strike.  
   
  “The issues faced by drivers are similar to those that UPLB
 students also experience under the UPLB administration such as the phase-out
 of organization tambayans at the Biological Sciences building,
 downsizing of security guards, installation of surveillance cameras in
 university buildings, and the delay in the campus elections.  These repressive
 policies are all in consonance with the Arroyo government’s policies.
  The further commercialization of UP and belt-tightening measures of
 the administration which leads to schemes such as the donwsizing of
 security guards are all part and parcel of Arroyo’s policies in education
 which has forced state universities and colleges to increase tuition
 due to a meager budget,”  USC-UPLB chairperson and NUSP-Southern
 Tagalog secretary general Leo XL Fuentes said.
   
  Fuentes said that these issues are part of the main reasons why they
 are calling for Arroyo’s ouster.  “While the education sector
 receives a meager budget, billions of pesos are simply being pocketed by
 Arroyo and her cronies.  The revelations of Lozada strengthen proof of
 rampant corruption by Arroyo and her cronies which has already been shown
 in previous anomalies concerning Arroyo such as the Jose Pidal accounts
 and the PIATCo scam,” Fuentes said.
   
    The USC-UPLB was among the youth convenors of a regional
 multi-sectoral alliance against corruption launched yesterday which included
 ANAKBAYAN-TK, NUSP-ST, CEGP-ST, and Kabataan Party-ST.  A multi-sectoral alliance in UPLB will also be launched tomorrow and will mobilize various sectors on Friday.#
   

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