Starting Wednesday, Sept. 13, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will be distributing the fuel subsidy to operators of public utility vehicles (PUVs) after the agency received the fund from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
LTFRB chairperson Teofilo Guadiz III said they have also signed an agreement with various government agencies like the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) since the fuel subsidy program also covers tricycle operators and delivery service riders.
The DILG will supervise the distribution of the fuel subsidy for tricycle drivers in coordination with the local government units since tricycle operators are not under the LTFRB. On the other hand, the DTI and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will be tasked to distribute the fund for the delivery service riders.
On the part of the LTFRB, Guadiz said those who would be given the one-time cash assistance under the fuel subsidy program are operators of the passenger jeepneys (PUJs), UV Express, mini-buses, public utility buses (PUBs), Filcabs, shuttle services, taxis, tourist transport services, school transport services, and Transportation Network Vehicle Services (TNVS).
Under the guideline, Guadiz said a total of P10,000 one-time cash assistance will be given to each operator of PUJs and UVEs while P6,500 for each operator of other PUVs.
The DICT and the DTI will take the lead in the distribution of P1,200 subsidy for each delivery service rider while P1,000 each for each tricycle operator under the DILG.
Guadiz clarified that there is no special treatment in the approval of those who would be qualified in the fuel subsidy program, even in the amount that would be distributed.
“The amount given depends on the volume of petroleum products being consumed by public utility vehicles,” said Guadiz.
Last week, the DBM approved and released around P3 billion fund for fuel subsidy in a bid to assist PUV drivers and operators amid the continuous rise of prices of petroleum products, especially in the past 10 weeks.
Based on the LTFRB data, around 1.36 million beneficiaries would be receiving the one-time cash assistance—280,000 of them are PUVs; 930,00 are tricycle operators while 150,000 are delivery service riders.
Guadiz said the cash assistance will be distributed through e-wallet accounts, bank accounts and fuel subsidy cards that were already used in the past fuel subsidy distributions especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.