Strike paralyses two RP cities

Strike paralyses two RP cities

DAVAO, Philippines (Reuters): Bus and taxi drivers barricaded roads and paralyzed two cities yesterday in the southern Philippines in a transport strike to protest fuel price increases, police said.

There was no violence but the strike forced banks, shopping malls, cinemas and many private offices and schools in Davao and General Santos city to close after employees failed to front for work, they said.

"All our public conveyances are paralyzed because the strikers barricaded the roads with wooden boxes and tree trunks," Police Major Dionisio Hicban said by telephone from General Santos, on Mindanao island, 800 kilometers south of Manila.

The strikes were organized by leftist unions headed by the May 1st Movement which demanded a roll-back in fuel prices and opposed the recent approval by a congressional panel of a bill freeing the oil industry from state control.