Public utility jeepneys are expected to be scarce on Monday in Metro Manila and six other regions as members of militant transport organization Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (PISTON) stop operations to press their demand for lower fuel prices and just penalties for traffic violations.

PISTON also urged private motorists to participate in their protest action by not buying even for just on Monday the products of oil companies.

“What we are fighting for is not only for the interest of public utility drivers, but the private motorists as well since we are all affected by overpriced fuel prices and excessive traffic fines,” PISTON Secretary-General George San Mateo told Manila Bulletin over the phone.

PISTON has the capability to paralyze the country’s jeepney routes as seen in the outcome of its protests in previous years.  The group claims a 250,000 membership across the country.

“Let’s make a sacrifice even for just a day. This is also for our greater good,” San Mateo urged private and public utility drivers.

What a better way to protest the “overpriced” fuel prices, San Mateo said, than by not gassing up at fuel outlets on Monday, so the oil companies would lose billions and the government millions in Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT) proceeds.

As early as Sunday, the group was already celebrating a “tactical victory” referring to the P1.50 price rollback oil firms implemented over the weekend on their products.

“Right after our press conference of our strike last Friday, the oil firms announced a P1.50 rollback,” San Mateo said.

PISTON said it wants a P3-P4 slash on current fuel prices citing a data from the independent research firm Ibon Foundation that fuel prices in the country are overpriced by said amount.

PISTON said it also wants the government to scrap the Oil Deregulation Law which they blamed for the continuous increase in the prices of fuel products and for the government to push through with the auditing of the financial records of oil firms.

A major organization of truckers---the Alliance of Concerned Truck Operators Organization (ACTOO) has pledged to join Monday’s strike. ACTOO is the same group which caused a monstrous traffic jam on the North Luzon Expressway in 2005 when it tried to barricade the tollway to protest the anti-overloading law.