THE Cagayan de Oro City Council committee on public utilities approves the P1 motorela fare increase petition after a series of public hearings were conducted this month.
City Councilor Teodulfo Lao Jr., chairperson of the public utilities committee, said he has approved the fare hike petitions of the two motorela groups and will let the City Council give the final approval.
"We will have to repeal the ordinance as we will not base the fares anymore on the gasoline price," Lao said.
Lao said the fares will increase from P6 to P7 for the minimum fare; from P5 to P6 for students, senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs); and from P2 to P3 for the kids.
He said the City Council would also look at revisiting the ordinance every five years to see if the approved fare matrix will still be applicable years from now.
Motorela drivers and operators, the academe, student sector, PWDs, and the senior citizens were consulted and all agreed to increase the fare.
"We were surprised that the response of all the sectors that was invited were positive, they all agreed that it's about time to change the fare matrix because it had also been eight years since it was revisited," he added.
Some vendors initially opposed the move, but Lao said they were later convinced to agree to the petition.
"It really was a win-win solution to increase the fare to P1," he said.
Once the proposal will be approved next week, the new fare matrix will immediately take effect.
Motorela group Alyansa-MP3 (Makatarunganong Usbaw-Pletehan Alang sa Pamilya ug Pasahero) convener Sonny Hinosolango said its group was grateful for the committee approval of their long-overdue petition.
According to the group, for the past eight years, a motorela driver working for about 10 to 12 hours only earns about P200 to P300. A driver also needs to have 134 passengers in order to earn a minimum of P800 per day, minus P250 for the rental of the motorela, and another minus for the P300 gasoline, excluding the food allowance, and other rela maintenance that the driver will spend in a day.
"Sa tinuoray lang dili unta kami gusto nga mopataas sa pletehan kay mananakay man pud ang among pamilya apan napugos kami tungod kay nagpabiling ubos ang among kita, samtang misirit nag taas ang palaliton, spare parts uban pa tungod sa Train Law (We also do not want to increase the fare because our family members are passengers but we were forced because of our low income yet prices of basic commodities are rising due to Train law)”, Hinosolango said.
The group's petition included 1,000 signatures from motorela drivers and operators from CMODA (Camaman-an Motorela Operators Drivers Association), MAODA (Macasandig Operators Drivers Association) COCOGAMODA (Consolacion-Cogon-Gaisano Motorela Operators Drivers Association), CAMASCAMODA (Aluba route), CONAMODA (Cogon Nazareth Motorela Operators Drivers Association), NAZRODA (Nazareth Motorela Operators Drivers Association), CAMODMACO (Carmen- Motorela Operators Drivers Association), MMODA (Macanhan Motorela Operators Drivers Assocation), Agora group, City High School group and Zayas group.
The Federation of Motorela Operators and Drivers in Cagayan de Oro also petitioned for a fare increase that should depend on the price of gasoline.