Transport strike hits more RP cities

Transport strike hits more RP cities

CEBU, Philippines (Reuters): A new wave of transport strikes crippled Cebu, a major central Philippine city, yesterday but officials used dump trucks to ferry workers and lessen the impact of the walkouts elsewhere, police said.

The protests were to culminate later in the day with a planned march by thousands of leftist workers on the presidential palace in Manila.

The strikes by drivers of buses, taxis and pedicabs followed warnings from a senior government minister that the economic crisis gripping the country, if mishandled, could provoke social unrest.

Scores of public transport drivers stayed off Cebu's streets disrupting about 50 percent of business activity in the bustling industrial area of 1.4 million people, initial police reports said.