Government willing to pay for new round of oil subsidies for jeepney drivers

Monday, November 21, 2011

A CABINET official confirmed that the government is willing to pay for another round of subsidies for jeepney drivers after oil companies hiked petroleum prices by more than 20 times since January this year.

However, the subsidies can only be enjoyed as soon as the Department of Energy (DOE) completes the first tranche of the six-month-old Pantawid Pasada program by the end of November, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said.

“Yes, there is. The last time PNoy (President Benigno Aquino III) met with the public transport sector (last September), he expressed openness in extending the program but at that time about 50 percent of the initial program still had to be implemented,” he told Sun.Star.

The Energy department has yet to release a progress report of the program even as transport groups have long discredited the slow pace of the distribution and loading of the cards.

These cards contain P1,050 worth of credit which can be used in the purchase of fuel products and are given out to over 220,000 legitimate beneficiaries for free.

Sought for comment, the Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston) said the group will oppose plans to extend the program since jeepney drivers still found no relief from high gas prices despite the subsidy.

Pump prices of diesel and gasoline have risen over 20 times since January, bringing the total increase of P7.99 per liter for diesel and P5.88 per liter for regular gasoline, according to the DOE.

“We are still hoping that the government will hear our call of suspending the value added tax imposed on fuel products and the junking of the oil deregulation. We don’t want poor and expensive stop-gap measure,” Piston secretary-general George San Mateo said. (Sunnex)