Jeepney fares are going up by one peso to a minimum of P10 for the first four kilometers by early November, a leaked document from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board showed Wednesday.
This developed as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has proposed new macroeconomic assumptions for crude oil prices from 2018 to 2022, implying a 39.1-percent increase in the mid-point assumption for 2019.
In a decision signed by LTFRB chairman Martin Delgra III and board members Ronaldo Corpus and Aileen Lizada, the board granted the petition filed on Sept. 18 by five transport groups to increase the minimum fare from P9.
This made permanent “the provisional fare increase of P1 granted on July 6, 2018 and an additional P1 for the first four kilometers or a minimum fare of P10 from the original fare of P8,” the LTFRB noted in the decision that would cover public utility vehicles in the National Capital Region and Regions 3 and 4 (Central Luzon and Southern Luzon).
The fare increase would take effect 15 days after the LTFRB publishes its official decision in a newspaper of general circulation.
Lizada had a handwritten note on the document saying she had a dissenting opinion from Delgra and Corpus.
The Department of Transportation, which oversees the LTFRB, however, expressed regret that the document on the decision was leaked “even before it was certified as official,” GMA News reported.
“We request the drivers to wait until the LTFRB releases the official document on the fare hike before charging any additional fare,” DoTr added.
In the document, the board also denied the petitioner’s bid for a P1 fare increase for every succeeding kilometer after the first four kilometers due to “lack of factual and reasonable basis.”
The petition seeking an additional P2 fare increase to make the minimum jeepney fare P12 was likewise “denied for factual and legal basis.”
Petitioners included the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations, Land Transportation Organization of the Philippines, Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, and Pangkalahatang Sanggunian Manila and Suburb Drivers Association Nationwide Inc.
Meanwhile, for 2019, the central bank has proposed an oil price assumption of $75 to $85 per barrel from an existing assumption of $50-$65 per barrel, the Department of Finance said Wednesday.
“Uncertainties in the global economy arising from the trade war, US President [Donald] Trump imposing sanctions on Iran, and declining Venezuela production scared financial and commodity markets, sending equities and commodity prices gyrating from day to day,” the department said.
“This has resulted in volatile crude oil prices,” it said in the DOF Economic Bulletin on Dubai Crude Oil Prices.
The BSP is proposing new macroeconomic assumptions for crude oil price in the medium-term, as follows:
• From the current assumption of $55-$70 per bbl to $70-75 in 2018
• From $50-$65 per bbl to $75-$85 in 2019
• From $50-$65 per bbl to $70-$80 in 2020
• From $50-$65 per bbl to $65-$75 in 2021
• From $50-$65 per bbl to $65-$75 in 2022
This implies a 39.1-percent rise in the midpoint price assumption in 2019, a 30.4 percent rise in 2020, and a 21.7 percent rise in 2021 and 2022.
Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, meanwhile, said the suspension of the higher excise tax on fuel in 2019 would cut subsidies to jeepney drivers, who were supposed to receive as much as P20,515.
But Diokno said if they don’t implement the second phase of the excise tax hike on fuel, they shouldn’t implement the subsidy either.
At the same time, the Budget secretary—who has come under fire before for remarks that his critics have found insensitive—said Filipinos should not buy Christmas food items “too early” as this might add to the rate of inflation.
He added that he was certain the prices of goods would come down before the holidays.
Also on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of Finance Antonio Lambino said the decision to suspend the excise tax was made “when the prevailing and futures market prices were above $80” per barrel, and that this would be reviewed at some point next year.
Over the weekend, Malacañang announced that the President was considering suspending the second tranche of excise tax on fuel under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law in a bid to temper inflation. The move is expected to result in about P41 billion in lost revenues for the government.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said on Monday the DBCC might consider reducing the government’s spending on non-infrastructure projects as a result of the suspension of excise tax on fuel.
Meanwhile, a pro-administration lawmaker lauded the decision of the Department of Agriculture to increase the buying price of clean and dry palay by P3 a kilo, saying this was a welcome relieve for farmers who are worried about rice imports.
Apart from increasing the buying price of palay, Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles said that the DA, through the National Food Authority, should now “exclusively buy locally produced rice for its buffer stocks in order to prevent the economic dislocation of tens of thousands of Filipino rice farmers as a result of the lifting of the QR.”
Nograles, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations, said the last time that the NFA had increased its buying price of palay from local farmers was 10 years ago. Since then, the NFA has given preference to rice importation to fill up its buffer stocks.
