Top officials of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) have started the deliberation on all the fare hike petitions amid concerns on the operational costs in running public utility vehicles (PUVs) over the series of big-time oil price hikes in the past five weeks.

Initial deliberations were already done based on the arguments raised by jeepney, taxi, UV Express, and bus sectors that were filed from March to July 24 and another meeting of the LTFRB officials is expected on Monday, August 3.

The petitioners are Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (PISTON), Metro Comet Transport Service Cooperative, UV Express National Alliance of the Philippines, United Transportation Coalition of the Philippines, and Manibela.

The transport groups have been raising concerns about a spike in their operational costs due to the series of big-time increases in the prices of petroleum products.

LTFRB chairman Vigor D. Mendoza II said the goal is to come up with the fare adjustments for each public utility vehicle sector that are acceptable to each of them, as well as the commuting public and other stakeholders.

“We are already reviewing and discussing all the pending petitions for fare hike and as per instruction, we have to come up with the recommendation in the soonest possible time,” said Mendoza.

He assured that the positions of various stakeholders will be factored in during the final deliberation and decision-making process on fare adjustment requests of transport groups.

in March, the LTFRB approved fare adjustments for jeepneys, UV Express, buses and taxis following an upsurge in oil prices due to the Middle East conflict. But this was deferred by President Marcos who said that time that Filipinos are not ready for fare hike since they themselves were affected by the impact of Middle East conflict.

Instead, cash subsidy and fuel discounts were rolled out as alternatives until the Middle East situation began tp normalize.

But with the series of oil price hikes and complaints of transport groups, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Giovanni Z. Lopez tasked the LTFRB to recompute the appropriate fare adjustments based on pending fare hike petitions.

In an earlier statement, the LTFRB said that instead of an interim adjustment given the price of petroleum products, the agency will come out with a final resolution in the soonest possible time.

Mendoza said various considerations will be factored in during the deliberation, including the inflationary effects and the capability of the commuters to pay for the adjusted fare hikes.

As part of the protocol, he said other stakeholders and government agencies are consulted before the recommendation of the LTFRB is submitted to the DOTr.