By Chito Chavez The youth group Anakbayan has criticized Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) spokesperson Celine Pialago for supposedly “maligning the conduct of the September 30 transport strike and tagging it as a ‘mere inconvenience.’ ” Anakbayan (Anakbayan-UP Manila|Manila Bulletin) Anakbayan spokesperson Alex Danday said “the MMDA, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) have released red herrings all day long but none of their statements, however callous and empty, responds to the issue at hand, to the issues the transport strike had put forward.” In a statement, Pialago called on Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary-general Renato Reyes to “try harder” moments after branding the strike as “unsuccessful.” “This government is hallucinating at best! First by declaring the bogus PUV modernization program as ‘for the common good,’ and second by denying the obvious success of today’s transport strike,” Danday said. He reminded the government officials “that these drivers and small-time operators you brazenly lambaste are the ones who pay for your salaries’’. Explaining further, Danday said “excise tax and VAT charges from these impoverished heroes go straight to your pockets”. “So if you still have basic human decency and delicadeza, you should at the very least, listen to their plight and heed their democratic call,” added Danday. He concluded that “If you continue to turn a blind eye on the issues faced by drivers, operators, and commuters, you just prove to us that MMDA’s and the rest of the government's empathy has really ‘passed away.’”