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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Gov't has spent P5B on transport sector cash aid so far—Gatchalian

Gov't has spent P5B on transport sector cash aid so far—Gatchalian

Published Apr 20, 2026 01:00 pm
Transport network vehicle services (TNVS) drivers receive cash relief assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) during a distribution at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City on April 20 2026. (Betheena Unite)
Transport network vehicle services (TNVS) drivers receive cash relief assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) during a distribution at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City on April 20 2026. (Betheena Unite)
A Cabinet member disclosed that the government has spent nearly P5 billion to assist public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers with cash assistance amid high fuel prices in the country.
"Ang total na nagagastos na ng gobyerno is close to P5 billion as we speak right now. Pero tuloy tuloy pa (The total amount the government has spent so far is close to P5 billion as we speak right now, and it is still ongoing)," Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian said in an interview on Monday, April 20.
Gatchalian was at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City during the distribution of cash relief assistance to transport network vehicle services (TNVS) drivers on Monday morning.
The activity was supposed to be attended by President Marcos but he skipped it due to undisclosed reason. He was scheduled to attend the distribution right after he conducted an inspection at the Araneta Center Bus Terminal in Cubao, Quezon City.
According to Gatchalian, a total of one million drivers belonging to various sectors such as TNVS, public utility jeepneys (PUJ), tricycle operators and drivers association (TODA), motorcycle taxis, and service delivery apps, have been assisted by the government.
"By the end of the month, we plan to finish the first round," he said.
The DSWD chief also disclosed that they will be soon releasing cash aid to drivers through electronic wallets.
"But as we mentioned before, itong mga TNVS, yung mga MC taxi, yung mga service delivery, meron yang mga e-wallets, e (But as we mentioned before, these TNVS units, motorcycle taxis, and delivery services already have e-wallets)," Gatchalian said.
"So now na mataas na yung confidence level namin dun sa listahan kasi na-validate at na-verify na namin sa first round, we will start doing e-wallet transfers sa mga succeeding rounds (Now that our confidence level in the list is higher—since we’ve validated and verified it in the first round—we will start doing e-wallet transfers in the succeeding rounds)," Gatchalian added.
Meanwhile, the DSWD secretary said they have taken care of the medical bills, burial arrangements, and other necessities of the motorcycle taxi driver who dies while lining up for cash assistance in Quezon City in Saturday.
Gatchalian has also explained anew the reason behind the face-to-face distribution of cash assistance, citing the need to verify the beneficiary's identity.
"Moving forward tulad ng sinasabi ko na this stage kasi we're doing it manual because we want to make sure na physical at totoo yung driver na pinag-uusapan natin at driver talaga siya. Totoo yung driver at indibidwal at driver talaga siya (Moving forward, as I mentioned, at this stage we’re doing it manually because we want to make sure that the driver we’re dealing with is physically present and legitimate—that the individual is real and is indeed a driver)," Gatchalian said.
He also said that they are now studying various vulnerable sectors that the governnent can assist amid the energy emergency.

Related Tags

CASH RELIEF ASSISTANCE PUV drivers TNVs DSWD REX GATCHALIAN
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