黑料社/ Faith Argosino

MANILA, Philippines — Members of the transport group Manibela mobbed Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Special Operations Group Strike Force head Gabriel Go during a protest rally in San Juan City on Wednesday.

Go, accompanied by his team, said they were asking some of the Manibela drivers to move their vehicles, which he said were already causing traffic congestion along Connecticut Street near Edsa.

“Apparently pina-paalis lang naman natin dahil nag cacause ng traffic eh they’re very aggressive na hindi na nagkakaintindihan. Ang samin you’re causing traffic alisin natin ang mga sasakyan it’s up to you what you want to do diba it’s your right,” he said in an ambush interview after he was mobbed by protesters.

(We’re asking them to move because they’re causing traffic, but they were very aggressive, and we could no longer converse properly.  Since they were causing slow traffic, we told them to move the vehicles. It’s up to them if they want to do it, right? It’s their right.)

“Di ko na napansin sinong nauna [nanakit] kasi I’m just doing a dialogue with their president apparently medyo aggressive sila so sabi ko sa mga tao natin fallback na lang tayo,” he added.

(I didn’t notice who was the first to [attack] because I was just doing a dialogue with their president. They were pretty aggressive, so I told our people just to fall back.)

As seen in the video, Go was mobbed by the Manibela members following a heated discussion. One member even threw a water bottle at the MMDA officer.

“We would have to check with our office kung ano man ang legal actions na we would take on this,” he said.

Manibela and other transport groups staged a protest near Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon’s office along Edsa – Greenhills in San Juan City, marking the last day of their transport strike due to the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board’s (LTFRB) alleged falsification of the data on the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP).

Valbuena, however, revealed they plan to extend the transport strike until Friday.

To ensure public safety during the strike, the Philippine National Police deployed 48,555 personnel to various terminals and transportation hubs across the country.

The PNP also dispatched over 1,400 vehicles to offer “Libreng Sakay” (free rides) to commuters affected by the transport strike.