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.