A motorcycle taxi group expressed thankfulness for the government’s various cash relief efforts but hoped that agencies would also consider their call for a fare increase.

Motorcycle Taxi Community Alliance Chairman Romeo Maglungsod said that he hopes the government would continue to enact legislative measures to lessen the strain of oil price on their community.

“Malaking bagay sa amin yung nabigay na ayuda…nagpapasalamat kami sa lahat kahit papaano eh naibsan ng konti pero sana ang aming hiling talaga ay maramdaman na yung pagbawas ng excise tax, ng mga presyo ng petrolyo, at hiling talaga namin ay fare increase,” he said.

Riders under motorcycle-hailing services were included in the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s P5,000 cash relief assistance initiative and the Department of Transportation’s fuel subsidy program.

Maglungsod claimed that he was happy that the national government recognized and considered them as one of the beneficiaries in the program after being excluded from previous fuel subsidies.

Discrepancies

Distribution of the subsidies were not without its challenges, however, as the chairman said that 20 percent of their community had yet to receive their share of the assistance.

Some drivers were reportedly excluded from the lists for unknown reasons.

Maglungsod said that the lists should have been gathered from the various rider communities themselves so that everybody could have been included instead of having to solely rely on the Transport Network Companies (TNC).

He mentioned that he was clinging onto the statements of government agencies that riders that were not part of the initial payouts would receive their subsidies by the second week of April.

“Ang pangako, pagkatapos daw ng holy week, baka mabigyan na ng limang libo ulit na ayuda sa mga hindi nasama sa listahan,” he said.