Only a third or P345 million of this year’s P977 million in fuel subsidy to jeepney drivers and operators have been distributed by the government as part of the mitigating measures of the tax reform program, an official said Thursday.
“The year is almost coming to its end but the assistance being given by the government to our drivers is still lacking,” said Senator Grace Poe, the head of the Senate’s public services committee.
She said the cost of petroleum had gone down but the drivers had incurred huge losses due to the continuing increase in the prices of goods.
“Dapat naman sanang ibigay na ‘yan nang wala nang kondisyon dahil kasama ‘yan sa batas,” Poe said.
Only 69,065 Pantawid Pasada cards containing P5,000 in subsidy each had been distributed to drivers and operators out of a total 171,836 recipients, Poe was told.
In explaining the delay in the subsidy’s roll-out, Transport officials said the franchise holder could have been out of the country, the transfer of the franchise was not reflected in their database, or the franchise holder was dead or ill.
Poe learned about this during the marathon debates on the proposed P74.39-billion budget of the Department of Transportation this week.
“That should have been done a long time ago,” Poe said.
The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or TRAIN law, which overhauled the income tax regime and increased the ceiling for tax-exempt salaries, imposed a P3 tax for every liter of kerosene, P2.50 for every liter of diesel and bunker fuel, and P1 for every kilogram of liquefied petroleum gas. Next year, the excise taxes will increase to P4 for kerosene, P4.50 for diesel, P9 for gasoline and P2 for LPG.
At the same time, around P40 billion in additional revenues will be generated by the second round of excise taxes under the TRAIN.
For 2019, the fuel subsidy will increase to P20,514 or P1,709 per month for every beneficiary, compared with the P5,000 subsidy for this year.
“Sana naman ibigay na nang mabilisan sa susunod na taon at wala nang dahilan pa para ma-delay ang paghatid ng nararapat na ayuda para sa mga tsuper at operator,” Poe said.
