House Deputy Speaker and Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy is supporting the PASAHERO party-list’s petition to extend the validity of jeepney and tricycle drivers’ license and vehicle registration by six months.
“The Tatlong Gulong (Three-wheel) sector and jeepney drivers need these timely policy changes to help them cushion the impact of or slowly rise from the adverse financial effects of the lockdown and limited operations the past two years,” Herrera-Dy wrote in a letter to Department of Transportation (DOTr) Sec. Arthur Tugade on Thursday, Feb. 10.
Herrera-Dy, in a statement Monday, Feb. 14, bared that she has also met with Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Edgar Galvante to endorse PASAHERO’s proposal and to urge action on the LTO and the DOTr’s end.
PASAHERO’s petition seeks to add six months to both the one-year validity of vehicular registration and to the recently-extended 10-year validity of driver’s licenses.
“Humina ang kanilang pasada, tumaas ang presyo ng langis pero wala silang natanggap na ayuda mula sa national government. At sa kabila nito hindi naman tumaas ang kanilang pasahe (Their chances of earning were lessened, fuel prices went up, but they didn’t receive any amelioration from the national government. And despite this, tricycle fare didn’t increase),” said PASAHERO party-list co-founder Allan Yap on Feb. 11.
Furthemore, the party-list’s proposal also seeks amendments to the driver’s license registration procedure which requires tricycle drivers to use four-wheeled vehicles instead of three-wheeled vehicles, and also to the fees imposed on driver’s registrations which are priced specifically for four wheel vehicles.
“This policy is not only a mismatch to the vehicle they will be using but also discriminates against them as they might not have access to four-wheeled vehicles and hence, find it an additional burden on their part,” Yap explained.