Drivers, fishers could only groan as subsidy trickles down

IN THE SAME BOAT | Tuna fishing boats dock at the General Santos City fish port. Boat operators here await subsidies like those extended to jeepney owners as soaring fuel prices seriously threaten their livelihood. (BONG S. SARMIENTO / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Rodelio Sotto has been driving his jeepney for 31 years, plying the Morayta-Divisoria route in Manila. As prices of petroleum products have risen to record highs, the 50-year-old jeepney driver has started contemplating other options to make a living.

“Right now, I’m already thinking of changing jobs. I am thinking of going for a construction job or even going back to my province,” Sotto, who hails from Catbalogan, Samar, told the Inquirer in Filipino in a phone interview on Tuesday.

He used to net P250 a day fetching passengers along Morayta and Recto, but Sotto said this fell to P150 to P200 as fuel has taken most of his earnings from five roundtrips a day.

“I’d do anything for my family and that means if I have to quit driving, I would do it, just so I can serve food on the table,” he also said.

A father of three, he said he has also found an alternative to have food for his family—by buying one meal from a canteen for lunch worth P60 and another for dinner.

“Before, a regular jeepney driver could buy half a kilo of pork to cook ‘sinigang’ (stewed pork) and we could even afford to buy rice. But now, we have to stick with the budget meals from canteens so our families can eat,” Sotto said.

While he is thinking of other options, 55-year-old Ponciano Vergara decided to stay on as a jeepney driver.

Plying the Tayuman-Pritil route, Vergara, a driver for around 32 years, is earning much less now compared to others.

From almost P200 a day, Vergara said he now earns only P80 as the bulk of the money he makes from seven to eight roundtrips had to be allocated for gas.

“Some of us would just cry because this is not something that we have to laugh about,” he said. “If we go outside to start the day, we would think of what we are going to bring on the dining table. But now, all we think about is how much to allocate for gas.”

Protest

Small fishermen were more drastic in their actions.

Members of fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) staged a strike on Tuesday to protest skyrocketing oil prices and the government’s supposed failure to act on the unabated increases.

In Binangonan, Rizal province, around 40 members of the group shut off the engines of their fishing boats to symbolize the suspension of their operations, or “tigil palaot,” following the double-digit rise in local fuel pump prices amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The work stoppage was also held simultaneously in coastal communities of Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay.

“The ‘tigil-palaot’ is our protest against the overpricing of petroleum products that already left us to bankruptcy and debts,” said Pamalakaya spokesperson Ronnel Arambulo.

“We likewise protest the government’s neglect to correct this fraudulent practice on overpricing of giant oil firms,” he added.

The group said they could be forced to abandon fishing and look for other stable sources of income as 80 percent of the entire fishing production cost already goes to fuel.

“There is a widening gap between our income and what we spend on fishing production. It is now normal for a fisherman to get bankrupt because of rising oil prices,” Arambulo said.

The group is also calling on the government for a P15,000 cash assistance to buy fuel enough for two months instead of a P3,000 subsidy.

In General Santos City, the series of increases in fuel prices has also started to take its toll on the tuna fishing industry, with some operators reportedly considering suspending operations to avoid further losses.

Dominic Salazar, president of Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries Inc., said on Tuesday that tuna fishing companies and other operators had been noting with concern significant spikes in their operating costs due to rising fuel prices.

Industry players estimate that fuel costs, specifically diesel, take up about 60 percent of the total expenses of a regular fishing operation, depending on the distance of the fishing grounds.

“The fishing industry is already feeling the pain brought about by the fuel price increases. Some players I talked with are even considering temporarily stopping their operations if this will continue,” Salazar said in a radio interview.

Fuel subsidy glitches

The promised help from the government for public utility vehicle drivers has started arriving, but with some problems.

Last month, the government announced that it would provide a fuel subsidy worth P6,500 to each operator and driver of all public vehicles. It was scheduled for release on Tuesday and while some were able to receive it, many others are still patiently waiting.

One problem seen by transport group Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (Fejodap) was that a group of drivers was unable to get the subsidy since their operator was not available.

“There were certain requirements and technicalities that the transport workers had to face,” Fejodap president Ricardo Rebaño said.

One issue that he observed among his members was the change of ownership of operators after the sale of a jeepney. This means that the new owner cannot claim the subsidy since their name is not yet on the franchise.

This was the same sentiment of National Public Transport Coalition, whose lead convenor Ariel Lim claimed that “90 percent” of their member drivers have not yet received their fuel subsidy.

“This is outrageous. All we want is to at least have some relief for our members who are suffering from these oil price increases,” Lim said.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has yet to respond to queries about the first day of the fuel subsidy’s distribution.

—WITH A REPORT ALLEN V. ESTABILLO 

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