Over P13 million in cash subsidy has been distributed to more than 3,000 drivers of public utility vehicles (PUVs) nationwide under the government's service contracting program, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said.
In a statement Saturday, the LTFRB said that a total of 3,282 drivers of traditional and modern public utility jeepneys (PUJs) and public utility buses (PUBs) in various regions in the country have received the initial financial assistance of P4,000 each.
According to the LTFRB, these are PUV drivers in Metro Manila, Ilocos region, Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao region, and Socsargen.
Latest data provided by the LTFRB said these are the number of driver-beneficiaries of the initial subsidy per region:
NCR: 1,201 traditional PUJ drivers, 160 modern PUJ drivers
Region 1: 431 traditional PUJ drivers, seven modern PUJ drivers
Region 3: 43 modern PUJ drivers
Region 4: 508 traditional PUJ drivers, 57 modern PUJ drivers
Region 6: 237 traditional PUJ drivers
Region 7: 148 PUB drivers
Region 9: 196 traditional PUJ drivers
Region 10: 177 traditional PUJ drivers
Region 11: 15 PUB drivers
Region 12: 102 traditional PUJ drivers
The cash assistance was distributed by the LTFRB to the drivers through their Landbank of the Philippines (LBP) account or their registered e-wallets such as GCash or PayMaya.
The LTFRB added that more drivers in different regions are expected to receive their initial subsidy under the program in the coming days.
Drivers who already received the initial subsidy were reminded to log in to the Service Contracting Driver App through go.sakay.ph/driver for every transit to qualify for an additional weekly subsidy.
Different rates per kilometer have been set by the Board for each kind of PUV. Drivers or operators of traditional and modern public utility jeepneys (PUJs) will get P11 per kilometer while drivers or operators of passenger buses will get P23.10 per kilometer, the LTFRB said.
At least 60,000 PUV drivers are expected to benefit from the Service Contracting Program which aims to aid in their everyday operational expenses such as gasoline, boundary, and other expenses to help them abide by the "quarantine protocols."
Some P5.58 billion funding has been allotted for its implementation under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2.
Under this, the government through the Department of Transportation and LTFRB will provide payouts for public transportation services where PUV operators and drivers will be given a performance-based subsidy according to vehicle-kilometers traveled and compliance with performance indicators.