Bautista says P1.4B needed to continue Libreng Sakay program

Commuters ride a free ride shuttle from Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange to Buendia on June 15, 2022. —RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines – An additional budget of P1.4 billion is needed to continue the “Libreng Sakay” program of the government until the end of the year, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said Monday.

Bautista said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) currently has no available budget to continue the Libreng Sakay or free ride program.

“Kung itutuloy po natin ‘yan hanggang December, we will need [an] additional budget of around P1.4 billion, which is hindi po available sa existing budget namin,” Bautista said during the Laging Handa briefing.

(If we are to continue the Libreng Sakay program until December, we will need an additional budget of around P1.4 billion, which is not available in our existing budget.)

“But kung kailangan nating ituloy until December 31, we will ask for additional budget from the Department of Budget and Management. So hihingi po kami ng tulong sa Presidente para magkaroon ng ganyang budget para sa DOTr,” he added.

(But if we need to continue this until December 31, we will ask for an additional budget from the Department of Budget and Management. We will also ask the help of the President for that amount of funding to be available for the DOTr.)

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board earlier announced that the free rides on public transportation at the Edsa Busway Carousel will continue until July 31.

Lack of public vehicles 

Bautista also addressed transportation advocacy groups’ concern about the lack of public vehicles in time for face-to-face classes.

He said transport officials are already discussing fleet rationalization to ensure enough public transportation is available.

“Meron pong isang grupo na gumagawa ng study. Unfortunately, parang hindi pa natatapos yung kanilang full study sa fleet rationalization,” Bautista said.

(There is a group conducting the study. Unfortunately, their complete study on fleet rationalization is not yet finished.)

“We will work closely with them para matapos natin yan bago mag start yung face-to-face class,” he added.

(We will work closely with them to finish that before the face-to-face class starts.)

Bautista also said that DOTr would coordinate with other government agencies to discuss each department’s possible actions in preparation for the face-to-face classes. – Christine Annie Asistio, INQUIRER.net intern

JMS/abc