LTFRB set to hand out fuel subsidy, fare hike in coming week

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board said that it was going to provide the fuel subsidy for five transport sectors and announce an increase in public transport fare in the upcoming week.

Atty. Vigor Mendoza, the Chairperson of the LTFRB, explained that his office had already received an updated list from operators and transport groups within the National Capital Region to be included in the P5,000 cash assistance program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“Aside from the inclusion of tricycle drivers this Tuesday, also included are what we tallied to be around 261,000 composed of jeepney drivers, delivery service riders, TNVS drivers, and motorcycle taxi drivers These are the four sectors that are included in the distribution of the subsidy this week,” he said.

Mendoza noted that the department was 85 percent complete in terms of covering all jeepney drivers within the NCR and that it expected to complete its records by Monday, March 16.

The chairperson urged drivers that were not left out of the lists to coordinate with the LTFRB in order to be included to the list of beneficiaries on Tuesday.

“We are encouraging drivers that have yet to submit their information to the LTFRB because we need it…they can just bring their information to the LTFRB so they can be included in the list that receives the subsidy,” he said.

Mendoza also assured drivers that they were going to directly receive the subsidy in cash, debunking the concerns of netizens online that only the operators were going to benefit from the assistance.

Aside from the subsidy, he also announced that the LTFRB was prepared to discuss the pending fare price increase based on petitions that it received from various transport groups like PISTON.

“The most difficult part of our job is to balance the ability of the commuters to pay fares, we can not necessarily increase the price to a point that the commuters will suffer,” expressed Mendoza.

The LTFRB chief further explained that an increase in fare price was certain, all that was left to determine was the actual amount.

The announcement of how much fare was going to be adjusted was also noted to likely coincide with the first day of subsidy distribution.