[In the news] Issues on fuel subsidy cards raised | Sun.Star

Issues on fuel subsidy cards raised | Sun.Star. By JM Agreda Friday, June 17, 2011 JEEPNEY operators from the Cordillera, La Union and Pangasinan have raised issues with the Energy department regarding fuel subsidy cards distributed recently to mitigate effects of oil price hikes. Despite the Department of Energy (DOE) distributing 1,403 Pantawid Pasada cards,…

Human Rights Online Philippines

June 17, 2011

3–4 minutes

Baguio, Benigno Aquino III, Cordillera Administrative Region, Land Transportation Office, Philippine, Subsidy, Sun.Star, United States

Issues on fuel subsidy cards raised | Sun.Star.

By JM Agreda
Friday, June 17, 2011

JEEPNEY operators from the Cordillera, La Union and Pangasinan have raised issues with the Energy department regarding fuel subsidy cards distributed recently to mitigate effects of oil price hikes.

Despite the Department of Energy (DOE) distributing 1,403 Pantawid Pasada cards, Regional Public Transport Affairs Officer Perfecto Itliong Jr. said the fuel subsidy is not worth the wait.

He said the P1,050 loaded in the card is only good for one to two visits to gasoline stations.

More than 100 presidents of jeepney associations in the region and nearby provinces who have flocked to the Land Transportation Office building in Pacdal awaiting the fuel subsidy also went home dismayed, as the cards given to them were not loaded yet.

“We will have to submit a report first in our Central office in Manila and in the banks for the cards to be loaded,” Itliong said.

DOE-Luzon officer-in-charge Efren Balaoing, however, explained that the Pantawid Pasada cards will be loaded with the P1,050 subsidy five days after they have been distributed to jeepney operators.

Balaoing also stressed that they have been fast-tracking the production of the cards laid out in Executive Order 32 of President Benigno Aquino III allotting P450 million subsidy for jeepney drivers, but it took them time to produce thousands that were given all over the country.

Distribution delays

The delay, he said, was caused by bad weather conditions in Manila last week.

He said they started giving out the fuel subsidy cards in Metro Manila as early as May, and in the provinces in the succeeding weeks.

Itliong, meanwhile, said they have also filed a separate petition to the DOE to include taxi operators in the region who are still experiencing disgust at the turtle-paced decision of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Manila on their P40 flag down petition.

All taxis in the country today are enjoying P40 flag down rate except the Cordillera region, which filed a separate petition with some opposition on the succeeding kilometer rates by another group of operators.

Balaoing said they have not yet heard of the inclusion of taxi groups in the fuel subsidy for franchise holders and tricycles.

He said the Pantawid Pasada cards may are valid until 2016 for other government subsidies if oil prices continue to surge.

The card may also be used by franchise holders in availing of incentives and discounts from gas companies and other government aid.

Price disparity

Fuel consumers in the region have questioned the seemingly unfair disparity of prices of fuel in Baguio city compared to other nearby provinces.

Balaoing explicated this, saying that as early as March this year, he already appeared before the Benguet Provincial Board, explaining the higher than usual rates of gasoline in Baguio.

He said supplies of fuel come from the lowlands and transshipment costs have driven the increase of fuel in the region by as much as P2 to P3, higher than in the lowlands.

“If the fuel comes from Poro Point, travel of tankers to the city will make it as an added expense for gas companies,” he said.

He also said that gasoline stations in the city and nearby areas have been few compared to those in the lowland provinces, driving up gas prices even more.

“Active gas stations in Cordillera are only 56 compared in Region 1 (Ilocos) or 2 (Cagayan Valley) that have 250 average gasoline stations,” he said.

Lack of a field office in the region to air concerns of the transport sector continue to dismay fuel consumers, which Balaoing said they have other concerns aside from fuel to address like renewable energy sources and power generation.

He said the DOE-Luzon field office has only been established in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan in July 2010, covering Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and the Cordillera Administrative Region.

Their field offices are only one in Visayas and Mindanao, he added.

Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on June 17, 2011.