Following the streak of rising fuel prices, public utility jeepney drivers are only now able to take home from P300 to P400 of their daily income to their families, a transport group said Sunday.
Mody Floranda, national president of the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (PISTON), expressed this in an interview on radio dzBB, saying their daily income is far from the estimated family living wage of around P1,100.
“Due to the series of fuel price increases, our earnings of P400 to P500 before are now decreasing even more. We are almost back to taking home P300 to P400 to our families, which is far from the living wage of a family of five to survive,” he said.
Fuel pump prices are expected to go up starting Tuesday for the third week in a row. Unioil Petroleum Philippines said over the weekend diesel will likely go up by P0.80 to P1.00 per liter and gasoline by P1.20 to P1.40 per liter.
Floranda said that based on a study by the independent research group IBON Foundation, a family needs P1,133 per day.
“This is not to make their lives easier, but only to meet their demands for the day,” he said.
As jeepney drivers in Manila feel the pinch of rising fuel prices, they have resorted to several ways to save their hard-earned money, Floranda noted.
Some of them only do half-day work, while others chose to just make their jeepneys their home, he said.
“Right now, the income of our public transport sector has decreased even more due to the continuous increase in the cost of petroleum products in the country,” Floranda said.
“We are worried about this because it is not only the transportation sector that will be mainly hit, but also the people. We know that whenthe price of petroleum increases, the prices of the basic needs and services also increase,” he added.