A group of drivers figured in a scuffle with protestors during the first day of the transport strike in Bacolod City Monday, the Federation of Bacolod City Drivers Associations and the police said yesterday.

The fight was between the FEBACDA drivers, who were on a jeepney, who were allegedly stopped by unidentified Gabriela protesters at the intersection of Burgos and Lopez Jaena streets, in Bacolod, at about 6.45 p.m. Monday, Elizabeth Katalbas, president of the jeepney group, said.

Tension between the drivers, who were on the way to Granada from a beach in Brgy. Punta Taytay, grew as the strikers insisted that they get off the vehicle and stop their operations even after they had identified themselves, and a number of jeepney drivers had already resumed plying the city’s streets Monday night, she added.

Katalbas also said that one of their members was attacked with a stone by an unidentified person and had to be brought to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital.

Gabriela members also reported to Police Station 4 that one of them was injured during the scuffle.

Katalbas said the incident was a case of “poor” coordination between the groups staging the strikes.

Members of Gabriela, who had positioned themselves at the Burgos-Lopez Jaena intersection called for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, while the transport groups only demanded for the rollback of oil prices, she added.*PP

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