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Cops guard Manila oil depot amid oil price hike protests


Even as transport groups prepare to stage protests against the recent series of oil price hikes, police are keeping tight guard over the oil depot in Manila. Radio dzBB reported Monday that acting Manila Police District (MPD) head Sr. Supt. Danilo Abarzosa ordered the oil depot in Pandacan "guarded and monitored" 24 hours a day. Abarzosa also ordered checkpoint operations around the depot area, which houses the facilities of the "Big Three" firms Petron, Chevron (Caltex), and Shell. He said the checkpoints should particularly be active at night to prevent militants from sneaking into the area. For their part, militant transport groups said their noise barrage scheduled for Monday afternoon in Cubao in Quezon City was just the start of a series of protests. George San Mateo, secretary general of the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston), said the protests may culminate in an actual jeep strike if government does not listen. "Ang araw na ito hindi pa magkakaroon ng tigil pasada. Opening salvo pa lang ito ng series of protest actions pangunahin laban sa pagtaas ng presyo ng langis; ikalawang dahilan, para sa aming kahilingan ibalik sa P7.50 ang minimum pasahe sa jeep," he said in an interview on dzBB radio Monday. (We're not going on strike yet. This is just the opening salvo of a series of protest actions. We want to stop the oil price hikes, and we want fares to be returned to the previous rate of P7.50.) "Puwedeng humantong sa tigil pasada kung di kumilos ang pamahalaan para tigilin ang pagtaas ng presyo ng langis (But if the government does not listen to us, we may eventually be forced to stage a transport strike)," he added. - GMANews.TV

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