Commuter network The Passenger Forum (TPF) on Saturday urged the government to come up with immediate solutions to help the public cope with rising cost of living amid spiraling fuel prices.
“We are now in a transport emergency. It is obvious that whatever the government is doing is definitely insufficient to our gigantic problems in the transport sector. Even before the spate of oil price hikes, we already have a PUV supply problem. Now, many of the remaining PUVs have decided to stop plying their routes because they’re losing money instead of earning income,” TPF convenor Primo Morillo said in a statement.
Since March 2021, TPF has been clamoring campaigning for more public utility vehicles (PUVs) to meet increasing demand for mass transportation as the country transitions to the new normal with the COVID-19 pandemic gradually easing out.
“The government’s approval of an increase in jeepney fares proved ineffective in solving the income problems of PUJ drivers and operators. And we know that with inflation, it is not wise to hike fares drastically. We have heard of diesel subsidies but it also seems to be insufficient,” Morillo said.
He also cited the need for the government to form an emergency task force that will quickly look for ways to solve the transport woes.
“The DOE and the DOTR are just ineffective and the DOTR even prematurely celebrated their supposed achievements two weeks ago,” Morillo said.
TPF also underscored that, aside from commuters and transport workers, the transport crisis definitely affects the entire Philippine economy.
“This crisis situation affects the productivity and health of all our workers and of our labor-intensive economic sectors,” Morillo noted.
“We really hope that though we are in a period of transition, the outgoing and the incoming government still see the wisdom in creating a dedicated, albeit temporary, government body to solve this crisis. And while we’re at it, we further hope that they will study long-term solutions that will veer us away from the fossil fuel-dependent, car-centric system we have right now,” Morillo stressed.