Finance Secretary Ralph Recto applauded the move to exempt trucks transporting agricultural products from toll hike and provide them with rebates starting June 1 , 2024 to reduce food inflation and ensure stable food prices for Filipinos.
“I thank our government agencies as well as our partner toll expressway concessionaires and operators for their full cooperation. This measure will prevent the second-round effects of toll rate increases onto food inflation and ensure that we keep food prices stable and affordable for our consumers,” he said.
The initiative was led by the Department of Finance (DOF), the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Agriculture (DA), with the support of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) and San Miguel Corporation (SMC) Tollways.
The Agri-Trucks Toll Rebate Program caters to truckers that are accredited by the DA and have valid Autosweep and/or Easytrip RFID accounts.
Once enrolled and approved into the system, toll rebates will be credited to the truckers’ RFID accounts every Wednesday of the following week.
The rebate program is targeted to run for three months subject to extension, and is seen to benefit 200 to 300 agricultural trucks traveling from north and south Luzon.
Covered by the program are the Manila-Cavite Expressway, North Luzon Expressway, Subic Clark-Tarlac Expressway, Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway and the South Luzon Expressway.