The nationwide strike of transport group Manibela had "no effect" on the transportation,

the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said Thursday.

Manibela, which is in the midst of the second day of its rally, is protesting against the consolidation requirement of the public utility vehicle (PUV) modernization program.

This comes after Piston announced that it would hold a three-day strike earlier in the week.

“For now, we could not feel the effects of the strike of a transport group which will hold its last day tomorrow. In fact, we did not dispatch any vehicles even if we had prepared 600 plus assets,” MMDA Acting Chairman Romando Artes told the “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon” briefing.

“The transport strike of Piston was more organized and had more participants. But when it comes to Manibela’s strike, we really couldn’t feel it. We don’t even know if there are people who joined,” he said.

According to Artes, the transport strike held by Piston which ended on Wednesday had been “peaceful” despite reports of a driver being allegedly harassed by a rally participant.

The incident had been immediately addressed by the police, he added.

Artes said the areas that had been the most affected by the previous strike were Malabon, Caloocan, and Parañaque. Jaspearl Tan/DMS