Fuel subsidy for jeepney, tricycle drivers on line in 3 weeks

MANILA, Philippines—Jeepney and tricycle drivers may avail themselves of fuel discounts of not less than P2 a liter from the government in three to four weeks’ time, the Department of Energy (DoE) said.

Malacañang released Tuesday the executive order providing for a P450-million subsidy for jeepney and tricycle operators.

Signed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., for President Benigno Aquino III, Executive Order No. 32 sets up the Public Transport Assistance Program (PTAP), or “Pantawid Pasada.”

The program is designed to aid jeepney and tricycle drivers in coping with the almost weekly oil price increases.

President Aquino announced the subsidy last week on the day militant groups staged a transport strike.

Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang said the subsidy would be given only to registered public transport vehicles and operators.

“The goal here is to ease some of the pressure on the public transport operators so that they can also pass on the savings to regular commuters,” Carandang told reporters.

Registered with the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board are 214,596 jeepneys, 27,886 buses, 6,648 minibuses and roughly 1 million tricycles nationwide.

Temporary program

Carandang said the fuel subsidy would be a “temporary program” and that Malacañang would announce in a “few weeks” the long-term solutions the administration was working out to help people cope with the impact of high fuel prices.

Mr. Aquino said last week that the fuel subsidy would be implemented for a month and would be reviewed to find out whether the subsidy would be continued or its amount increased.

EO 32 said the fuel subsidy was recommended by the interagency contingency committee because it was deemed to be “the most effective form of intervention to adopt as targeted relief to these vulnerable sectors.”

The committee said the public transport sector had been “hardest hit by the oil price hikes given that oil is one of the major operating costs.”

Smart cards

Under EO 32, the DoE is the lead agency in implementing the PTAP. The DoE will use “smart cards” to ensure the integrity of the disbursements.

Zenaida Y. Monsada, director of the DoE Oil Industry Management Bureau, said it would take about three weeks to complete the printing of the smart cards.

She told energy reporters that the discount would most likely be not less than P2 a liter.

Monsada said her office was given 15 days to complete the implementing rules and regulations that would govern the order.

“The disbursement shall be made per franchisee and on the number of franchise units based on information to be provided by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) through the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board,” said the order.

Counterpart funds

In the case of tricycles, the Department of Interior and Local Government will coordinate with local government units (LGUs) for the implementation of the PTAP. The LGUs will have to put up counterpart funds.

Monsada said agreements had yet to be forged among government agencies and with the local and/or provincial government units for counterpart funds.

“After its first month of implementation, the DoE shall submit to the interagency committee a report on the status of the accomplishments of the PTAP. The committee shall submit its recommendations to the President regarding the continued implementation of the program and its projected requirements,” the order said.

By April 20

At a press briefing, Carandang said the issuance of the order, which will take effect upon its publication in a newspaper of general circulation and/or by April 20, did not mean that the government had scrapped its study on whether to extend the subsidy to farmers and fisherfolk.

“The EO also allows an extension of this (subsidy) depending on the appreciation by the DoE of the oil price situation worldwide,” he said when asked how soon the government would extend the subsidy to fisherfolk and farmers as earlier announced by the President.

Carandang was referring to Section 2 of the order which said that “upon the recommendation of the interagency committee, the DoE may review the list of those entitled to the PTAP to include other sectors whose operations may be classified as sensitive to high oil prices and it may also suspend the PTAP when it determines that the impact of fuel costs on these sectors no longer exists.”

The P450 million for PTAP will be funded by the special account in the general fund of the DoE and proceeds from the Malampaya gas field in Palawan province.