TWO Cabinet secretaries have made urgent appeals to the Commission on Elections for an exemption from the public-spending ban of the fuel subsidy releases to two vital sectors: farmers and fishermen; and public utility transport drivers.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar made the calls separately on the sidelines of the Philippine Economic Briefing and Sulong Pilipinas.
Dominguez, who heads the government’s economic team, said he does not favor banning the fuel subsidy releases, which comprise urgent assistance for those impacted by rising oil prices amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Tulong sa tao ito, e. Dapat hindi [ma-ban.] Dapat ibigay ‘yon [This is assistance to people. It should not be banned. They should give it].”
Dominguez’s remarks followed statements by lawmakers denouncing the move of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) temporarily halting distribution of fuel subsidies to public utility vehicle drivers and operators. The agency cited the election ban on public spending for infrastructure and other projects from March 25 until May 8, the eve of the 2022 National and Local Elections, to avoid any semblance of vote-buying.
Meanwhile, Dar appealed to Comelec to exempt its fertilizer and fuel subsidy programs from the public spending ban as this are meant to aid farmers and from skyrocketing prices of inputs.
Dar is “hopeful” that their petition to the Comelec would be granted, arguing that a month of halting the department’s subsidy and voucher programs is “long enough” to deny farmers and fishermen of necessary state interventions.
“One month is long enough to deny our interventions to be given to the farmers. [Our interventions] do not have [political] colors. Food production does not have [political] colors,” Dar told reporters on the sidelines of the Philippine Economic Briefing last Tuesday.
“That is what I am saying all the time. We need to produce more food [at] every opportunity,” Dar added.
The agriculture chief said the DA’s programs affected by the public spending ban include the fuel subsidy for corn farmers and fishermen; fertilizer subsidy for rice, corn, and cassava farmers; cash assistance to rice farmers and even the procurement of farm machinery by the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization.
Dar disclosed that they received a notice from the Comelec to stop the distribution of their fuel subsidy program, which had been in implementation for two weeks. Thus, they were unable to distribute a substantial amount of the P500-million subsidy since Comelec has stopped its operations.
DA exemption request denied
“WE already wrote to them before but it was denied. That is why we are asking for reconsideration. Our programs should be continued to achieve our targets,” he said. Dar said he submitted his latest petition to the Comelec last Tuesday.
“All of our assistance programs are affected [by the ban]. All of these are much needed by the farmers because they are struggling with higher petrol prices, [higher] prices of fertilizers, feeds, everything,” he added.
The DA rolled out its fuel subsidy last month during the visit of President Duterte in Tacloban Leyte. Under the guidelines released by the DA, eligible Filipino corn farmers and fisherfolk could get a maximum fuel discount of P3,000 under the P500-million fuel subsidy program. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/03/08/guidelines-on-subsidy-distribution-to-farmers-fishers-issued/)
The DA is eyeing to cover some 3 million hectares of rice farms under its P5.85-billion fertilizer voucher program that would provide subsidies to planters. Eligible rice farmers may use the fertilizer voucher to buy fertilizer grades, including complete fertilizer, urea, ammonium sulfate, ammonium phosphate, and muriate of potash. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/03/09/da-issues-rules-for-fertilizer-aid-scheme/)
‘Can’t be vote-buying’
ON Wednesday, Senator Panfilo Lacson joined his colleagues Grace Poe and Joel Villanueva in asking the LTFRB to release the funds. Sen. Koko Pimentel lamented the halt, but said the ban against vote buying is clear, and said the Commission on Elections should instead rush its issuance of an exemption for the fuel subsidy releases, the way it did for other urgent public services.
Comelec was set to release its decision today (Thursday) on LTFRB’s appeal to exempt their fuel subsidy releases from the ban. The senators earlier asked the Comelec to fast-track the exemption, stressing that the assistance to drivers and operators is direly needed amid soaring prices of petroleum followed by spiraling prices of basic commodities.
Lacson, an independent presidential candidate, said that “unless there is jurisprudence along that line, I don’t think the national government should be covered by the election ban on providing social services to our people especially at a time when the prices of fuel continue to go up.”
He urged the Senate to act on the issue by exercising its oversight functions and questioning the basis of the implementing agencies for suspending the subsidy.
Besides, he said the law particularly the General Appropriations Act stipulates that the government provide subsidies to affected sectors.
“I do not see how something like that can be construed as vote buying,” he said.
Less than half of recipients
Less than half or 110,287 out of 264,578 beneficiaries have received their fuel subsidies as of March 29, according to LTFRB executive director Maria Kristina Cassion.
Last month, the Department of Budget and Management released P2.5 billion for the Department of Transportation’s fuel subsidy program to the transport sector and another P500 million under the Department of Agriculture’s budget to provide fuel discounts to farmers and fisherfolk.
Under the fuel subsidy program, financial assistance of P6,500 each will be directly provided through cash cards to over 377,400 qualified drivers of jeepney, UV express, mini buses, buses, shuttle services, taxis, tricycles, and other full-time ride-hailing transport network vehicle service and motorcycle taxis.
Economic managers also earlier recommended to President Duterte hiking the budget for the fuel subsidy program, to P5 billion from P2.5 billion previously. They have also proposed to raise the budget for fuel vouchers for agricultural producers from P500 million to P1.1 billion.
The release of the funds for fuel subsidy for the transport sector and the fuel vouchers for the agriculture sector was earlier recommended to be done in two tranches—the first one in March and the second one in April.
Budget and finance officials have earlier said additional funds needed for the economic team’s proposals may be sourced from excess revenues.
On top of these, Dominguez said the government is also eyeing to release P41.4 billion to provide additional unconditional cash transfers to the poorest 50 percent of the population. Dominguez said this amount would be enough to finance the additional cash aid for six months.
The DBM vowed to release the additional UCT once it receives the certification of excess revenues from the Bureau of the Treasury. With a report by Butch Fernandez