ILOILO City – From P6.50, the minimum fare will be P9 in this city and Iloilo province.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) central office approved the petition for fare increase filed by three Iloilo transport groups.
The new fare, however, will only be implemented once the LTFRB has issued a new fare matrix.
The matrix may be released next week, according to Raymundo Parcon, president of the Iloilo City Loop Alliance of Jeepney Owners and Drivers Association (ICLAJODA).
The minimum P9 fare is for the first five kilometers, said Parcon. There will be an additional P1 for every succeeding kilometer.
In seeking a fare increase, ICLAJODA and two other petitioners cited the effects of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law’s additional excise tax on petroleum products, basic commodities and vehicle spare parts.
“Our jeepney drivers are happy. The fare increase would somehow ease the financial burdens of their poor families,” said Parcon.
They actually asked for a P5.50 hike but LTFRB Region 6 recommended only P2.50 to its central office.
Though the increase was just half of what they asked, Parcon said they still welcomed the LTFRB approval.
“A jeepney driver sending to school two or three children needs a daily income of at least P500,” said Parcon.
The other fare hike petitioners were the Iloilo City Alliance of Drivers Association (ICADA) and the Confederation of Iloilo Provincial Jeepney Owners and Drivers and Association (CIPJODA).
ICADA and ICLAJODA were the two biggest jeepney transport groups in Iloilo City. CIPJODA, on the other hand, is the sole alliance of jeepney operators and drivers in the province of Iloilo.
“A P300 daily income is not enough for a jeepney driver nowadays,” said Parcon.
The TRAIN Law sets yearly increments in the excise tax on oil and fuel products until 2020. For diesel, it is P2.50 per liter this 2018, P4.50 per liter in 2019, and P6 per liter in 2020.
For regular and unleaded premium gasoline, in excise tax increment is P7 per liter this 2018, P9 per liter in 2019, and P10 per liter in 2020.
“If there is no increase in jeepney fare our drivers would suffer,” said Parcon. “They won’t be able to sustain the basic needs of their families because their daily collections are no longer enough.”
During a public hearing on the fare hike petition, the human rights alliance Karapatan Panay pressed for an increase of only P2.50. The Panay Consumers’ Alliance (PCA), on the other hand, said P3.50 would be “reasonable.”
“This year, our drivers’ sector and various sectors of farmers, workers, urban poor, women, and youth and students, among others, have felt the tremendous impact of the Duterte administration’s TRAIN,” a statement from PCA read.
The increase in excise tax, it said, “resulted to the increase in the prices of basic commodities and services.”
But while PCA stressed it was cognizant of the drivers’ plight, “to pass on the burden to the riding public…is not the solution.”
“This solution will only aggravate the dire situation of our farmers and workers (minimum wage earners), and sectors of students and professionals who are reliant to mass transportation,” PCA stressed.
The group urged the government to review its policies with regards the oil industry and mass transportation system.
“It is evident that the Oil Deregulation Law, the Expanded Value-Added Tax Law and the TRAIN Law are the main culprits of the unregulated increases in petroleum products,” PCA stressed.
It proposed the scrapping of these laws and the nationalization of the oil industry./PN
