ILOILO City – Drivers of registered public utility jeepneys (PUJs) across the country will get a monthly fuel subsidy from the government starting next year, a Department of Energy official confirmed.
PUJ drivers were allotted P5,000 each this year. Starting January next year, they will get P1,709.57 a month, according to Assistant Director Rodela Romero of the DOE’s Oil Industry Management Bureau.
The government gives out the fuel subsidy to cushion the impact of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law – which raised excise taxes on petroleum products – on the public transport sector.
“Iyong sinasabing increase is from P5,000 this year, magiging P1,700-plus per month next year. Malaki-laking tulong na rin,” Romero told reporters.
Around 117,000 to 119,000 registered PUJ drivers across the country may avail themselves of the fuel subsidy, a report from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board central office showed.
Of the figure, around 11,000 are from Western Visayas.
As of September, more than 30 percent of the beneficiaries have received the P5,000 fuel subsidy, also called the Pantawid Pasada program, this year.
The number is expected to increase after the LTFRB – the lead implementer – conducted a massive distribution recently.
Meanwhile the DOE received requests from other transport groups, like those of multi-cab drivers, to include them in the fuel subsidy program.
Romero said they forwarded the request to the LTFRB for the latter’s perusal.
She clarified that the DOE’s role under the program is to ensure that gasoline stations accept the Pantawid Pasada cards that drivers use to avail themselves of the subsidy.
Romero was one of the DOE officials who attended an energy conference at Grand Xing Imperial Hotel on Oct. 9./PN
