Jeepney drivers to gov’t: Release fuel subsidy before phaseout

CRIPPLING EFFECT The unabated increases in oil prices have forced small fishermen to cut down their fishing trips, according to a fisherfolk group. —RICHARD A. REYES

A group of public transport drivers and operators on Friday said the government should now release the budget allotments for fuel subsidies before jeepneys are phased out.

The Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston) said the subsidy should be released as early as this month.

Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate public services committee, this week called on the government to distribute the subsidy after seven successive price hikes since the start of the year resulted in a net increase of P10 in fuel prices.

There are a total of 377,443 beneficiaries of the P6,500 subsidy which is intended for each public utility vehicle (PUV) with a franchise, according to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

The LTFRB said in a statement on Friday that the release of the funds may not be possible before April.

It said the funds for the fuel subsidy program were still with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

It cited a “special provision” in the 2022 national budget which stated that the subsidy could be released only if the average price within a three-month period of the Asian bellwether Dubai crude exceeded $80 per barrel.

But Piston deputy secretary general Ruben Baylon said that the subsidy could be released only past the March 31 deadline for the consolidation of the PUV franchises, a part of the PUV modernization plan, which his group believed would remove jeepneys from the streets.

Consolidation

“How can we benefit from the subsidy if that would be the case? If we are likely to be phased out with their deadline for the consolidation of franchises?” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Baylon said that the LTFRB could still distribute the funds to PUV drivers even if they only have a “provisional authority” to operate instead of a full-fledged franchise.

“That would be up to them if they will give it to those only with the provisional authority,” he said.

LTFRB executive director Maria Kristina Cassion explained that consolidation would not equate to the phaseout of the traditional jeepneys as feared by Piston as this would only establish the “legal entity” of drivers and operators once they are grouped into a cooperative or corporation.

She said the consolidation deadline had been extended twice since 2020.

Under the planned consolidation, a minimum of 15 individual franchise holders or operators will be merged into either one cooperative or corporation so that there would be a proper management of PUV fleets plying a given route.

Cassion said that individual franchise holders “have the freedom” not to consolidate but they would only be given a provisional authority valid for one year instead of the certificate of public convenience, or franchise, good for five years.

Acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said Malacañang would leave it up to the DBM to interpret the provisions of the 2022 General Appropriations Act and decide whether the subsidy could be released.

Nograles said the Department of Transportation and the LTFRB discussed last month how the funds might be released. They also prepared an initial list of beneficiaries and submitted papers and documents on the budget requirements for the subsidy to the DBM.

Trigger

“So, now it is up to the DBM to interpret how to trigger the response based on the wordings of the budget law for 2022,” he said at a press briefing.

Under the 2022 budget, P2.5 billion has been set aside for the fuel subsidy program to provide financial assistance or vouchers to public utility, taxi, tricycle and full-time ride-hailing delivery service drivers nationwide as identified and validated by the LTFRB.

Another P500 million was set aside for the Department of Agriculture for fuel discounts to farmers and fisherfolk.

Fishers are carrying the burden of a “dramatic increase” in production costs which could increase by almost P2,000 a month due to the successive oil price hikes, according to Anakpawis party list.

Small fishers in Zambales province reported that their fuel costs had surged to P8,960 per month as the price of diesel, the most common boat fuel, was now P56 per liter, said Anakpawis, which represents groups of PUV drivers, farmers and fishermen.

Previously, they were spending P7,200 monthly when diesel prices were around P45 per liter.

Shorter fishing trips

“What’s even more alarming with these nonstop increases in oil prices is that we are still in the very first quarter of the year,” Anakpawis chair Rafael Mariano said in a statement.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said that fuel accounted for 80 percent of the entire production cost.

Anakpawis said small fishermen regularly used at least 10 liters of diesel per trip.

The rising fuel prices had forced them to cut down on their fishing trips from four to six days to three to four days a week.

“The production costs are skyrocketing as the income of the fisherfolk continues to plunge. Because the income can’t recover the production expenses, fishers have to borrow money to carry out another fishing trip only to return with empty nets and consequently be buried in debt from loan sharks,” said Mariano, a former agrarian reform secretary. —WITH REPORTS FROM LEILA B. SALAVERRIA AND JORDEENE B. LAGARE

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