DRIVERS of modern utility public vehicles (MUPVs) on the 01K route have not received any subsidy from the government’s “Libreng Sakay” program since it began on July 23, 2025.
The program is a Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) initiative designed to ease commuting expenses for students and workers. Under the program, each MUPV unit is supposed to receive a daily subsidy of P3,500 from a government-allocated budget of roughly P160 million for the 01K route alone.
However, drivers say they have yet to receive a peso.
“It’s already September, they promised us a subsidy at the start, but it is still in process, and we don’t know the exact amount,” said “Alyas Paldo,” a driver who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Paldo claimed the LTFRB did not publicly disclose the program’s policies, causing friction with passengers. He said he felt hurt when commuters would get angry at them for not allowing “barog,” or overloading, during peak hours. Overloading is prohibited under the program and could cost him his driver’s license.
He also noted that passengers complain that the drivers are paid by the government but still “hide” during program hours, which he said is untrue. He explained that they are following a two-service-window policy per day.
“It hurts to think about the complaints; passengers always say we are paid, but we’re not,” said “Alyas Rona,” a conductor of the MUPV driven by “Alyas Paldo,” who also requested anonymity.
Rona added that transport workers operating under the program do not know how to claim the subsidy funds from the government.
Councilor Winston Pepito, chair of the committee on transportation, confirmed that the “Libreng Sakay” program is scheduled to run until 2028 with continuous government funding.
According to Pepito, the LTFRB’s own monitoring system has revealed gaps in operations. He explained that the agency tracks vehicles through GPS, which clearly shows which units are operating. Based on the data, only about 50 percent of the 100 registered units are consistently running.
Pepito added that some passengers allege the shortage of available buses during morning peak hours forces them to use motorcycles-for-hire, which undermines the program’s purpose.
Operators denied deliberately holding back their vehicles. Instead, they attributed the delays to drivers’ breakfast breaks, which usually fall around 6:30 a.m., and the required installation of “Libreng Sakay” stickers on buses, a process they said could take up to two hours.
Pepito said the LTFRB now requires operators to check their vehicles’ daily GPS tracking data. This data determines which buses failed to run during free-ride hours and how much subsidy drivers and operators receive. Drivers who are not operating are immediately reported to the Land Transportation Office and may be given demerit points for repeated offenses.
Operators, for their part, have assured full cooperation and committed to disciplining non-compliant drivers. They also promised to remind their personnel to adjust their breakfast breaks to ensure service continues smoothly during peak hours. / Bryce Ken Abellon, USJ-R Intern