A LAWMAKER has revealed that only around 6,000 of 600,000 tricycle drivers across the country have received their share of the P2.5-billion fuel subsidy from the National Government.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano raised the matter during the confirmation hearing before the Commission on Appointments (CA) of Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022.
Cayetano and Bautista met on Friday, Dec. 9, to discuss the problem of tricycle drivers who have yet to receive their subsidies.
The independent senator said in a press statement on Sunday, Dec. 11, that he and Bautista discussed how the subsidies could be implemented more quickly to benefit the tricycle driver sector that is still reeling from high fuel prices, inflation and the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Cayetano, the CA minority leader, said Bautista agreed that the distribution could be done by local government units (LGUs) since they have the experience and capacity to distribute the assistance.
LGUs also have a list of tricycle drivers in their respective areas, Cayetano said.
Cayetano revealed during Bautista’s confirmation hearing that only around 6,000 tricycle drivers nationwide had received their subsidy.
This is a far cry from the 600,000 tricycle drivers that the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) had said were qualified to receive the amount, according to the senator.
Bautista said the delays were due to the unavailability of master lists of registered tricycle drivers in some LGUs, but Cayetano told him that various tricycle operators and drivers associations in the country can be called upon to help in the distribution of the subsidy to their respective members.
Cayetano said these transport groups are among the most organized in the country and have complete lists of their members.
The senator also said Bautista should bring his expertise as a private sector executive into the Department of Transportation to effect change that will benefit not just the transport sector but also the country’s transportation system.
Before the start of the Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. presidency last June, the previous DILG leadership announced that a total of 617,806 qualified drivers nationwide were qualified to receive the government fuel cash subsidy.
Then DILG secretary Eduardo Año said that 766,590 tricycle drivers applied for a fuel subsidy, but 148,784 of them were disqualified due to the lack of means of verification like driver’s license numbers, incomplete electronic wallet information, or names submitted after the deadline.
The DILG earlier issued Memorandum Circular 2022-047, ordering LGUs to submit a validated list of tricycle drivers, tricycle franchisees, addresses, electronic wallet accounts and the number of operating tricycles and other details within their respective jurisdictions.