BJMP Is Offering Libreng Sakay and No, It Won't Take You Straight to Jail
(SPOT.ph) Jeepney drivers and operators are holding a week-long transport strike starting Monday, March 6, which got local government units and other concerned groups scrambling to help commuters get to their destination. Among those who lent a hand is the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in the City of Manila, which had social media users giggling about possible free trips landing them in jail.
Facebook user Daniel Casosa Macapagat shared a photo of the Manila City Jail vehicle with a Libreng Sakay tarp offering a free ride from Monumento to Baclaran. The post has more than 1,700 reactions, and most of them are LOLs, as Facebook users joked that it would give commuters a free ride to the New Bilibid Prison.
Also read: Free Rides, Class Suspensions + More Updates for the Week-Long Transport Strike
Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)-Manila City's Libreng Sakay During the Transport Strike
An estimated 40,000 jeepney and UV Express vehicles joined the strike to protest the phaseout of traditional jeepneys as part of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s PUV Modernization Program of 2017. Among their concerns is the current process of acquiring new jeepneys in the government's pursuit of modernization, which can be a challenge among impoverished jeepney drivers.
Some 2.2 million commuters are said to be affected by the first major transport strike of the year.
The BJMP said it is offering Libreng Sakay aboard its bus to move stranded commuters in Manila. It's one of the many options of commuters in need of public transportation during the strike, which is scheduled to end this March 12.
No jail stops here: It plies the route Monumento-Quiapo-Baclaran and vice versa starting at 5 a.m. Monday.
"Layunin natin maisagawa ang Libreng Sakay habang nagkakaroon ng tigil-pasada," the BJMP Manila City said on Facebook.
Passengers who will ride the BJMP bus will also receive pamphlets tackling violence against women and children (VAWC)—just in time for Women's Month, Safe Space Act, Anti-Smoking and Anti-Drug Abuse, and Executive Order 70, or the creation of National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
