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Speed up service contracting payouts to displaced PUV drivers, Poe tells DOTr
Speed up service contracting payouts to displaced PUV drivers, Poe tells DOTr
Senator Grace Poe urged on Thursday, May 6, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to expedite the payouts to public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers they tapped for the government's P5.58-billion service contracting program.
“What’s supposed to be a lifeline for jeepney and bus drivers appears to be stalled due to bureaucratic traffic,” Poe said.
Poe issued the statement following the call by Move as One Coalition, a network of organizations and individuals involved in the fields of transportation, urban planning, and health policy, to expedite the distribution of the fund to its intended beneficiaries.
She said the advocacy group had cited that only P46.1 million or less than one percent of the fund has actually been disbursed by the DOTr. The availability of the appropriation is set to expire on June 30, 2021.
“At the rate we’re falling behind, it seems that the funds we appropriated are set on an expressway to the Treasury,” Poe lamented.
It was Poe who pushed for the inclusion of the P5.58-billion fund in Republic Act No. 11494 or the "Bayanihan to Recover as One" Act to help PUVs amid the lessened revenue due to the reduced carrying capacity and observance of social distancing rules.
Under the law, the DOTr and the LTFRB subsidizes the operations of PUVs. Drivers will be given payouts based on their performance, or the distance traveled and compliance with other performance indicators.
While she said that extending the validity of the service contracting program could be possible, it was, however, "not necessarily desirable" as it "was not a guarantee of speedier action on the part of the executive branch."
“From our experience in handling the national budget, a moving deadline is rarely a good sign for any program. The amount of paperwork just expands so as to fill the time available,” Poe pointed out.
Poe stressed that land transportation is one of the sectors hardest-hit by the economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Wednedsay, May 5, the DOTr announced that it will distribute P25,000 as additional cash incentive for PUVs driver onboard its service contracting program.