THE impending P2.50 fare increase among public utility jeepney (PUJ) in Western Visayas will not greatly hit workers in the region, a local labor leader said.
Wennie Sancho, secretary general of the General Alliance of Workers Associations (GAWA),said yesterday, June 25, the transportation fare hike comes in “timing” with the upcoming implementation of P13.50 to P41.50 minimum wage increase in Western Visayas.
“By the time that a new fare matrix comes out, the new Wage Order providing an increase on the daily minimum wage of private sector workers will also be effective,” Sancho said. “Thus, the impact of the fare hike on the labor sector would not be that much.”
Earlier, the transport sector in Negros Occidental welcomed the approval of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) central office on the petition of transportation groups in the region to increase the fare by P2.50, from P6.50 to P9.
Currently, the jeepney fares are P6.50 for regular passengers and P5 for persons with disabilities, senior citizens, and students.
In an interview with SunStar Bacolod on Sunday, June 24, Diego Malacad, secretary-general of United Negros Drivers and Operators Center (Undoc), said the LTFRB has yet to disseminate the information about the hike and release a new fare matrix.
The nine-peso-fare rate hike was agreed by the transport sector in a public hearing held in Iloilo last February 5.
Such development, however, is seen as a bad signal for the consumers.
Sancho said transport fare hike triggers price increases of all other commodities especially those with delivery costs.
He also pointed out that if the price of petroleum products will continue to rise, it will then create an impact on other goods and services.
“It may have an adverse effect to the consumers but beneficial to the drivers as they have been asking for fare hike amid the rising prices of petroleum products,” Sancho added.
The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB)-Western Visayas said they expecting the effectivity of the new Wage Order in August after it was approved last June 11.
RTWPB-Western Visayas Director Johnson Cañete earlier told SunStar Bacolod that they are still waiting for the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) to act on the submitted order.
After which, it has yet to be signed by Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III and subjected to 15-day publication before it can take effect.
For the labor leader, the wage increase will cushion the possible adverse effects of fare hike to the worker-consumers.
“There is no need to rally against the impending jeepney fare hike as we also recognized the need of the transport sector,” Sancho said, stressing that what the government should focus is to control the movement on oil prices.
With all the mechanism being done by the government, hopefully, this could lead to stabilization of the prices of fuel, he added.
(Train as culprit)
Moreover, barely six months after it was implemented, the labor group considers the Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Law as the culprit of all the increases being passed on to the public.
Sancho said the tax reform law has brought more harm than good and is expected to even worsen if the package two will be implemented.
“People are made as shock absorbers of the taxes brought by the Train Law which purpose is good,” he said, adding that “but good intentions are not enough, the people are the ones harmed not the government.”