A senior lawmaker on Monday appealed to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to work closely with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the early restart of the “Libreng Sakay” or free bus ride program along Edsa.
CamSur Rep. and National Unity Party (NUP) leader LRay Villafuerte said the Libreng Sakay would provide another financial relief to commuters in the National Capital Region grappling with the increasing cost of living.
“The DOTr must see to it that the LTFRB [Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board] fast-tracks the documentation process, including the contract-signing with the two bus consortiums—ES Transport & Partners Consortium and Mega Manila Consortium Corp.—participating in Libreng Sakay, so this project on free bus rides can be restarted soon enough for the benefit of ordinary commuters in Metro Manila,” he said.
The former CamSur governor made the call after DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman confirmed recently that the agency has allotted a P1.285-billion budget in the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA) for the DOTr’s SCP (Service Contracting Program) for Libreng Sakay, which had, till end-December, provided free bus rides on the EDSA Carousel route from Manila Central University in Caloocan City to Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange in Parañaque City.
Moreover, Villafuerte asked Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista to “lobby Malacañang Palace or DBM to provide a supplemental budget for SCP so the DOTr, through the LTFRB, can carry out Libreng Sakay till end-December this year, given estimates by transport officials that the available outlay funder the 2023 national budget is enough only to provide free bus rides along Edsa for six months.”
“With the rate of commodity price hikes in December rising at its fastest in 14 years, it is incumbent upon the DOTr to work closely with the DBM on speeding up the paperwork needed to restart Libreng Sakay as well as the release of the 2023 funds intended for SCP, so the government can continue offering free bus rides in Metro Manila, more so with the elevated, mostly imported, inflation, hounding our people into the new year,” Villafuerte said.
Sought for details, DBM spokesperson and Undersecretary Goddess Libiran said it was up to the DOTr, as the implementing agency, “to identify the scope/coverage of the program. They have the option to spread or limit its coverage, based on the result of their study.”
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), inflation soared to a 14-year record of 8.1 percent last December, the highest since the 9.1 percent clip in 2008— the year of the global financial crisis —and the ninth consecutive month in 2022 that the pace of commodity price hikes breached the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
PSA data showed the continued inflation spike last month resulted from the higher price index for electricity, vegetables, restaurant services, and private and public transport.
Villafuerte’s appeal for the early resumption of Libreng Sakay came a week after he lauded President Marcos for providing immediate financial relief to Filipino consumers at the start of 2023 with his twin directives meant to hold off scheduled increases this 2023 in the cost of certain basic monthly expenses.
“It behooves the DOTr, LTFRB [Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board] and DBM to find ways to resume the free bus rides ASAP [as soon as possible] —and to scour for funds to extend this pro-poor program till the end of 2023 at the least—considering that Neda [National Economic and Development Authority] director-general and concurrent Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said earlier that protecting the purchasing power of Filipinos remained on top of the Marcos administration’s priorities as domestic and global headwinds continue to be a challenge,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte stressed that “continued free bus rides, among other forms of subsidies for poor and low-income Filipinos, are extremely helpful for commuters in the National Capital [Region], given that in its Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2022 report, the ADB [Asian Development Bank] concluded that the poorest Filipinos need continued policy intervention and support to escape poverty because Covid-19 had adversely affected their lives and livelihoods.”
He pointed out that at the onset of 2023, for example, higher electricity and water bills await Filipino consumers even as prices of rice, meat, fish, vegetables and other basic food items remain on the high side.
Libreng Sakay reportedly provided 165 million free bus rides in 2022, benefiting a daily average of 389,579 passengers, and peaked to over 400,000 during holidays.