Jeep drivers warn: Fare hike or strike

Jeepney groups have warned of a nationwide transport strike should the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) reject their petition for a P12 minimum fare as fuel prices surged to their highest levels in 10 years.

Zenaida Maranan, president of the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (Fejodap), said a strike was becoming “inevitable” as another round of increases was implemented on Tuesday, raising the price per liter of diesel and gasoline to a decade-high P49.60 and P60.50, respectively.

The series of fuel price increases has drastically reduced jeepney drivers’ daily take-home pay from P500 to P300 for 15 hours’ worth of work, according to Maranan.

Compounded by severe traffic congestion and surging inflation, jeepney drivers are starting to feel the pains of maintaining their public utility vehicles and being consumers themselves.

Current minimum fare

“I thought this government loved the poor. But it’s like they do not understand. People’s empty stomachs are what’s at stake here,” the Fejodap president said in an interview.

“If the LTFRB refuses to grant our petition, then we have no other choice but to stage a (transport) strike,” she added.

Currently, the minimum fare for jeepneys is P9 after the first round of provisional P1 increase granted by the board in July.

But the LTFRB has yet to resolve the original petition filed by transport groups in September 2017, which sought a P4 increase that would bring the minimum fare to P12.

The original petition cited, among other things, the rising costs brought on by the passing of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act.

Neda guidance

LTFRB board member Aileen Lizada said the panel was still seeking the guidance of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) on whether it could grant the second and last round of provisional P1 increase, which would raise the minimum fare to P10.

The provisional increases are to be implemented while the board deliberates on whether to grant the entire P4 fare hike petition.

These could also be revoked if global oil price trends change, LTFRB Chair Martin Delgra said in an earlier interview.

Obet Martin, Pasang Masda president, noted that when his group filed the petition, the price of gasoline was P36 a liter.

‘Urgent’

“Clearly, the expenses we had anticipated then have already gone overboard. An increase [in fares] is not only due, it is urgent,” Martin said.

Echoing the sentiments of jeepney operators, Acto president Efren de Luna said the P5,000 subsidy given to the operators under the revived Pantawid Pasada Program was not enough to cover their daily expenses.

The subsidy, as provided for under the TRAIN law, De Luna said, translates to only almost P27 per liter a day—barely enough to augment the drivers’ daily income.

Remove excise on fuel

But while they are all lobbying for an increase, Maranan, Martin and De Luna agree that a much more permanent solution is not to raise transport fares but to remove the excise on oil and to regulate fuel prices.

The Department of Finance expects inflation to remain at 6.4 percent in September, but the consensus forecast, according to Bloomberg, is higher at 6.9 percent. —With a report from Julie M. Aurelio