ILOILO City – Free rides on modern jeepneys will resume.
“Ara na sa lamesa sang presidente (President Rodrigo Duterte),” according to Director Richard Osmeña of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) in Region 6, referring to the documents for the second round of the “Libre Sakay” program.
But LTFRB and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) have to pay first the drivers, transport cooperatives and operators for offering free rides between April 20 to June 30 this year.
“He (Duterte) will sign first ang fund para mabayaran ang utang sa mga operators, and then ‘yun na ang susunod na pipirmahan (documents for the next batch of ‘Libre Sakay’),” said Osmeña.
There is a P3-billion budget for this, he added.
Earlier, Osmeña said they would pay the drivers next week.
“Ang nami sini (second round) learning from previous mistakes naton, ang kwarta subong i-download sa tanan nga region. So indi maghulat ang operator nga one month to two months pa sila mabayran. Automatic mabayaran dayun sila in less than one or two days,” explained Osmeña.
All concerned must also have their Landbank accounts for faster payment.
In the first “Libre Sakay”, drivers/operators had different bank accounts.
Osmeña said around 200 modernized jeepneys in this city and Iloilo province would be tapped for “Libre Sakay” , a Service Contracting Program (SCP) under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) that aims to help the transport sector reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.
It is open to drivers of modernized jeeps, traditional public utility jeepneys (PUJs) and passenger buses that are plying active routes.
In Memorandum Circular No. 2021-029, drivers and/or operators of modern PUJs plying Iloilo City routes receive from the national government a subsidy of P52.50 per kilometer while those of provincial modernized jeepneys, P82.50. To determine their travel length, Global Positioning System (GPS)-capable mobile phones are attached to their vehicles.
Among the routes of modernized jeepneys for the free rides are Iloilo City, San Joaquin, San Miguel, and Cabatuan./PN
