Energy department to turn over Central Visayas’ fuel subsidy cards today

CENTRAL Visayas jeepney drivers will soon receive their fuel subsidy from the Department of Energy (DOE).

Today, DOE Secretary Rene Almendras will turn over the Pantawid Pasada Cards to Land Transportation Office (LTO-7) Director Raul Aguilos, LTO-7 Assistant Regional Director Arnel Tancinco and Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB-7) Director Ahmed Cuizon in a ceremony at the Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay City.

The Pantawid Pasada Program (PPP), also known as the Public Transport Assistance Program (PTAP), is a national government intervention program to give fuel subsidy to the transport sector to cushion the impact of oil price hikes.

The government allocated P450 million for the program—P3 million for the more than 285,000 jeepney driver-beneficiaries and P1.5 million for the one million tricycle driver-beneficiaries nationwide.

Jeepney drivers are entitled to P1,050 per month while tricycle drivers get P150 per month worth of fuel subsidy through the “Pantawid Pasada Card.”

Tancinco, however, said guidelines for tricycle driver are yet to be drawn up. The cards that will be turned over today are for the jeepney drivers.

The distribution will be based on valid franchise, which means the cards will be given to franchise holders who are expected distribute these to the jeepney operators.

Tancinco said based on the report from LTFRB, there are around 9,000 jeepney franchise holders in Central Visayas; around 6,000 are in Metro Cebu and the rest are in other parts of Cebu, Bohol and Negros Oriental.

The cards that they will receive today will soon be distributed to the Metro Cebu franchise holders and will be supervised by LTFRB and LTO.

For Bohol and Negros Oriental, the distribution will be done by the LTO as LTFRB has no offices in these areas.

Operators in Lilo-an and other towns in the northern area may get their cards from LTO’s Danao City district office.

Tancinco hopes the operators will sincerely give the cards to their drivers because the subsidy is not intended for the operators but for the drivers.