With the looming oil price hike on Tuesday, 21 July, various transport groups have called on the government to implement a fare increase to provide much needed assistance to drivers that have yet to recover from the price surges earlier in the year.

Mar Valbuena, chairperson of MANIBELA, said that he sought for an increase of at least P2, believing that a P1 increase would not be insufficient to address their needs.

“We want a P2 increase because we have yet to recover our losses since March. We hope the President will approve it; if they pushed through with the scheduled fare increase months ago, a P1 hike would be enough now,” Valbuena said during a radio interview.

“Our fellow drivers are still attempting to recover from the huge income that was previously lost. If we can see, our request has increased 100%. Our requested P1 before was prior to the war, and even that was not given to us,” he added.

To recall, during the height of tensions in the Middle East, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) planned the implementation of a fare increase for the buses, jeepneys, transport network vehicle services (TNVS), and airport taxis.

However, following the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the LTFRB decided to suspend the hike in an effort to shield commuters who were also reeling from the rising price of products in the market.

With the time that has passed, ACTO president Libay de Luna said that it was high time for the current administration to push through with the stalled increase and to provide any assistance in a timely manner.

“My reaction to this is that there is really a need to increase fares. They should give us our requested raise in fares and if they are going to provide any assistance again, hopefully we can receive it again as well,” De Luna said.

“Even P1 or P2 would be a big help to the transportation sector,” he expressed.

In an attempt to properly deliver their call to the government, both Valbuena and De Luna expressed that they would be staging separate protests.

Valbuena stressed that the strike was intended to give much needed attention to the issue that has been overshadowed by the different problems in the Philippines.

“We are still thinking on what day we will conduct a transport strike because of the rising price of petroleum products. Prices are once again slowly approaching P100 without us noticing because of the multiple issues in the country,” he said.

“We are being taken advantage of by the oil companies while the Department of Energy has done nothing to stop them,” he stressed.