The departments of Transportation, Budget, Energy, Transportation and Land Bank of the Philippines have agreed to grant a P5,000 fuel subsidy per jeepney driver.
The concerned government agencies inked a joint memorandum circular to distribute debit cards of a P5,000 fuel subsidy known as “Pantawid Pasada.”
At least 180,000 jeepney drivers stand to benefit from the program within the first two years of the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law.
According to Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, “Pantawid Pasada” was conceptualized as a mitigating measure when the TRAIN law was crafted.
He said that there is sufficient fund allocation for the program and immediate release of the subsidy provided there is proper documentation.
Some P977 million was allocated for the remaining six months of this year under the unprogrammed appropriations of 2018’s national budget, while P3.86 billion will be allocated in 2019 with an increase of the subsidy per public utility jeepney driver to P20,515 per year.
The LandBank shall distribute the debit card starting July 12.
On the other hand, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade vowed to wipe out any irregularity in the program’s implementation.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy, one of the signatories in the Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1, will provide the guidelines for the implementation of the Pantawid Pasada Program to shield vulnerable sectors from high oil prices.
The signing took place at the Multi-Purpose Hall of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
“We called on our partners in the oil industry to grant fuel discounts to public utility vehicles, in addition to their CSR programs. This resulted in our MOAs with Petron, Shell and Phoenix Petroleum,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said in a statement.
DOE is one of the six implementing agencies of Pantawid Pasada, which will provide fuel vouchers to qualified franchise holders of public utility jeepneys (PUJs), while the DOTr is the lead implementer of the program.
DOE is responsible for coordinating with oil companies to ensure their acceptance of Pantawid Pasada Cards as mode of payment.
DOE and the Landbank of the Philippines (LBP) will be in charge of identifying areas with limited or no access to retail Point of Sale systems, where vouchers instead of cards will be honored.
Cusi said DOE has been proactively implementing mitigating measures to help cushion the public, particularly the country’s vulnerable transport sector.
He said DOE will be ready to extend any assistance that may be needed by its partner agencies to successfully implement the fuel subsidy program.
Cusi also assured the public of the DOE’s vigilance in finding more ways to provide targeted relief to the public transport sector.
“We will continue to coordinate with the oil companies to expand the discount for PUVs and push for the success of Pantawid Pasada,” he said.
Recently, the DOE in partnership with oil firms Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc., signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to provide fuel discounts to public utility vehicles (PUVs).
“These corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs of the oil companies are aimed to mitigate the impact of Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law’s impact on transportation fares,” said Cusi.
The CSR programs will expand to the oil companies’ existing discount programs for PUJs, which includes the increase in the number of participating retail stations, higher discounts and inclusion of other PUVs.
The oil firms agreed to provide at least P1 discount per liter of liquid fuels to public utility vehicles (PUVs), which may include jeepneys and taxis, provide a designated lane for PUVs and extend additional privileges and other promotional offers to be offered to the drivers of PUVs.
“With these fuel discount and other CSR programs, we are hopeful that operators of jeepneys and buses will also help lessen the impact of TRAIN to consumers by not increasing the transport fares,” Cusi said.