Quick fixes cannot substitute for hard policies as Filipinos face a deepening cost-of-living crisis.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. halted the P1 fare increase, a small adjustment that transport groups had even dismissed as an insult.
Marcos said the deferment was meant to spare the people from an additional burden amid the Middle East crisis.
Jeepney drivers clamoring for a bigger increase to reflect the now astronomical pump prices and a suspension of the excise tax on fuel are left empty-handed. They suffer the greatest impact from the fuel shock, as diesel breached P100 per liter.
Transport groups said the meager increase was denied them even as the President provides big oil companies with a “feast, as if those who are already rich are the ones being rewarded.”
“The one peso being asked by our drivers is not even to improve their lives, but simply to ease the continuous decline in their income. Yet this was immediately withdrawn by President Bongbong Marcos,” a leader of a transport group said.
He added, “We need to examine the administration, who does it really serve? Does it serve the people, or does it serve big businesses and foreign companies operating in our country?”
To reflect the current cost of fuel, public transport using diesel-powered vehicles should be charging about P7 more in fares.
With a P1 increase and 16 passengers per trip, according to a transport leader, “we would need to complete seven to eight trips to earn enough to buy one liter of fuel. That’s why we call it begging from the government.”
Moreover, instead of suspending the fare hike, the government should have suspended the excise tax and the VAT, or even reviewed the Oil Deregulation Law, “if it truly wants to help” the commuters, drivers and operators.
Fuel subsidies have been rolled out, but drivers complain that many of them are not included in the government list.
The signals being given right now are that the government is going for the notorious ayuda or subsidies and cash handouts instead of a tax suspension.
In the 2026 national budget, the ayuda replaced flood control projects as the source of lump sums and slush funds.
Congress just granted the President emergency powers, including to suspend the excise tax.
Free rides on public transport and mass-rail fare discounts are also forthcoming, according to the Palace.
The steps taken thus far are palliative measures similar to past subsidies that appeared “pro-poor” but benefited political allies through patronage and kickbacks.
Missing is the will to implement the harder but more beneficial suspension of the oil tax.
The public will be treated to more political, short-term patch jobs that score brownie points, while the deeper impact of the fuel price volatility on the sectors that rely on it remains unaddressed.
The public, thus, is being given a circus to divert their attention from the government’s inability to come up with the best solution that requires strong political will, such as the suspension of the fuel and value-added taxes.
The politics of appeasement has no place in a crisis that spells life or death for many.