OVER 80,000 jeepney franchise holders have yet to claim the nationwide fuel subsidy being provided by the Duterte government as part of mitigation measures under the tax-reform program. This prompted Sen. Juan Edgardo M. Angara to air a timely reminder over the weekend, in advance of another upward adjustment in oil prices.
In a statement, Angara reminded the intended beneficiaries to claim their fuel vouchers to avail themselves of the State subsidy under the so-called Pantawid Pasada program (PPP).
“We are encouraging our legitimate jeepney franchise holders who have not yet claimed their ‘Pantawid Pasada’ card to go to the nearest office of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board [LTFRB] so they can get the fuel subsidy from government,” Angara said.
The senator aired the appeal on learning from the Department of Finance about the “low turnout” in the distribution of government-issued fuel subsidy cards to qualified franchise holders of public utility jeepneys (PUJs). He noted that as of January 15, 2019, the DOF reported only 74,714 fuel vouchers were distributed out of the 155,337 available cards, or 42.43 percent of the total national target coverage for 176,085 legitimate PUJ units.
Angara added that this meant 80,623 cards remain unclaimed.
Based on reports obtained by his office, the senator noted the region with the lowest claim rate is Region 10, with only 28.52 percent, while the highest is Region 8 (Eastern Visayas), at 71.64 percent.
Under the Pantawid Pasada program, billed as one of the government’s flagship social mitigation measures, fuel vouchers in the form of cash cards are given to qualified PUJ franchise holders for 2018 and 2019 “to ensure that they get timely assistance to mitigate the effects of the volatility of fuel prices in the world market,” where the fuel subsidies given to each franchise holder amount to P5,000 in 2018 and P20,514 for 2019, to be given quarterly.
The steady rise of fuel prices in much of 2018 had been blamed for the record inflation and on the fact that this coincided with the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law, which imposed higher excise on fuel.
Angara advised the PPP beneficiaries who have yet to claim their fuel subsidy cards to proceed promptly to the nearest LTFRB regional offices or the Land Transportation Office on East Avenue in Quezon City for those in Metro Manila, noting that these offices resumed distribution of PPP cards on January 7.
The LTFRB targets to complete the distribution of the remaining cards by March this year.
At the same time, he noted that starting Nov. 20, 2018, the LTFRB started accepting special power of attorneys (SPAs), along with other documents, for beneficiaries who cannot personally claim their cards. LTFRB targets to release the first quarterly payout of the fuel subsidy for 2019 by end of March. Together with the Department of Transportation and Land Bank of the Philippines, the LTFRB is set to provide the guidelines for the second tranche of fuel subsidy, as well as concerns over unclaimed PPP cards.