MANILA, Philippines - Lawmakers from the House of Representatives condemned Monday the transport strike of bus operators over the number coding scheme for city and provincial buses.

However, the lawmakers had differing opinions as to who should be blamed for the bus holiday that left hundreds of commuters stranded in Metro Manila.

Three congressmen said bus operators should be sanctioned for causing inconvenience to the riding public.

Quezon City Rep. Winnie Castelo said he will work for the cancellation of the franchises of bus companies who participated in the strike. "There are means to address or seek redress for their grievances. The commuters should not suffer," Castelo said.

Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco said that under the terms of the operators' franchises, they are committed to provide service to the public. He said deliberately depriving the public of service is a violation of the franchise granted by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTO).

Ang Kasangga party-list Rep. Teodoro Haresco said the government must not succumb to bus operators who "take the riding public as hostage, especially the poor and micro-entrepreneurs, to achieve their ends."

On the other hand, San Juan Rep. JV Ejercito blamed the Metro Manila Development Authority’s poor mitigation of the strike for the inconvenience.

He said poor enforcement of existing traffic laws affect the livelihoods of bus drivers and operators.

“Ang pinagtataka ko lang bakit noong panahon ni BF (former MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando), maayos ang traffic situation. That was not too long ago. Maybe there’s a problem in implementation or there’s something wrong in traffic operations," he said.

Tiangco and Diwa Party-List Rep. Emmeline Aglipay held the government accountable for the bus companies’ ultimate concern—the number coding scheme. They offered similar alternatives to the scheme which are meant to ease traffic jams caused by the overcrowding of streets.

Aglipay said the MMDA should first crack down on illegal colorum buses or buses with illegal franchises before implementing the number coding scheme.

"The MMDA should have exerted all possible means and efforts to dialogue with the transport sector to find other solutions or arrive at the compromise so that it would have not reached this point where the transport sector should have been involved in policy-making," Aglipay said.

Tiangco said the Land Transportation Office and LTFRB should confiscate or revoke all yellow plates over and above those in the franchises. 

Tiangco, who chairs the Committee on Metro Manila Development, recently held a hearing with the Land Transportation Office and the Land Transportation and Franchise regulatory Board, where it was revealed that there is now a moratorium on the issuance of new franchises for buses, which currently number 5000.