MANILA, Philippines — Around 15,000 registered jeepney, pedicab and tricycle drivers in Taguig City will receive cash assistance amounting to P8,000 which is expected to be released starting next week.
Mayor Lino Cayetano said the subsidy would be given out to members of accredited jeepney, tricycle and pedicab operators and drivers associations in the city. It will be distributed in two tranches of P4,000 each.
Councilor Noel Dizon, head of the city’s committee on transportation, said that drivers of public utility vehicles should coordinate with the president of their respective transport organizations for their inclusion in the list of qualified beneficiaries.
Some tricycle drivers have volunteered for deployment to health centers in Taguig City to ferry doctors and other health workers, he added.
Cayetano said the city was also working on the possibility of including other drivers of public utility vehicles, including cab drivers, affected by the public transport ban during the monthlong Luzon-wide lockdown.
Earlier, George San Mateo of the jeepney transport group Piston asked the government to provide financial aid and mass testing for the new coronavirus disease for the transport sector.
Around 500,000 jeepney drivers and 200,000 small-time operators in the country were among the hardest-hit by the enhanced community quarantine, San Mateo told the Inquirer earlier.