Transport group questions delay, discrepancy in gov’t relief efforts

“What good is grass if the horse is already dead.”

This was what the Liga ng Transportasyon at Operators sa Pilipinas President Orlando Marquez said this Monday concerning the government’s slow-moving relief efforts aimed at curbing the ongoing oil crisis in the country.

His frustrations stemmed from the current administration's failure to promptly act on the executive powers granted to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to suspend the fuel excise tax, particularly as diesel prices are expected to reach P170 per liter this coming Tuesday, April 7.

“It is saddening, firstly, we’ve been talking about that the President has been given emergency powers from the congress and the senate, but what good is grass if the horse is already dead,” Marquez explained in an interview on DZBB this Monday.

“That excise tax has long been talked about yet until now even a centavo has not been provided, even the fare hike was rescinded,” he added.

Marquez also called for the government to review the oil deregulation law, a measure that allows private oil companies to freely set their prices without government regulation.

With the continued threat of rising fuel prices to their livelihoods, the transport leader revealed that most of their jeepney drivers were forced off the roads due to a lack of income from daily trips.

“Nearly half of our drivers no longer drive, especially those in jeepneys, even tricycle drivers that used to share trips refuse to drive because they said that the only people that profit are gasoline companies,” he said.

Aside from the lack of legislative action, Marquez also questioned issues concerning the cash relief assistance initiatives of local government agencies due to the challenges they face in the screening process.

Giving an example on the matter, he said that out of the 168 drivers of one of their operators, only 31 drivers were given their respective subsidies.

As a result of these issues, Marquez said that they were going to conduct a nationwide meeting on Wednesday, April 8, to discuss a potential transport holiday in the coming days.

“It’s like a holiday, if the government is on holiday, we will also stop…Even if you operate, you won’t earn anything,” he said.