Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday, August 17, condemned what she described as an "utterly dismal" implementation of the government's service contracting program, which was also recently flagged by state auditors.
"It is lamentable that the government simply shrugged its shoulders over its inability to disburse payments to our operators under the service contracting program,” said Poe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Services.
"Hindi katanggap-tanggap ang labis na kabagalan sa paglabas ng pondong pambayad sa mga operator at drayber na walang kapagurang naghatid sa ating mga frontliner araw at gabi (It is unacceptable to delay the release of funds for operators and drivers who have been serving our frontliners tirelessly)," she added.
Poe expressed her disappointment after the Commission on Audit (COA) called out the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) for spending only 1.07 percent of its P5.58-billion appropriation for assisting displaced public utility vehicle (PUV) operators and drivers, thru the service contracting program.
In its report, the COA said that as of December 31, 2020, only some P59.7 million was used of the agency's fund for the program, citing "various delays" in its implementation.
LTFRB chairman Martin Delgra, on the other hand, said that they have released P1.25 billion or 26.55 percent of the P5.58-billion allotted for payouts last June.
The appropriation expired last June 30 as the validity of Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Republic Act 11494) lapsed.
Poe, who has repeatedly criticized the slow rollout of the service contracting program, filed another resolution seeking an inquiry into the COA's report.
In her resolution, she cited a "reproduced" COA breakdown specified that only P3.02 million or 0.05 percent of the total appropriation was actually disbursed by the LTFRB to the beneficiaries.
“We had hoped that the provision of assistance to PUV drivers would be given the express lane treatment. Instead, it got stuck in bureaucratic gridlock,” she said as she recalled pushing for the program's inclusion in the Bayanihan law.
“We can’t just sit and watch as our ‘kings of the road’ who have always rushed to the rescue of stranded commuters have now become beggars on the streets with no one to look after them,” she added.