THE chairman of the House committee on transportation has expressed hope that the government’s service contracting program, also known as Libreng Sakay, which provides payouts to public utility vehicle drivers and operators for offering free transportation services to the public would be extended and expanded until public transport goes back to full normalcy.

According to House committee on transportation chairman and Samar Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento, the service-contracting program of the Department of Transportation (DoTR) under Sec.

Arthur Tugade is true life-saver for many public utility drivers and operators who have been economically displaced because of the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Sarmiento made the statement following the expiration of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 Law, which means that the funding allocation for the Libreng Sakay program would be also suspended.

She said the Libreng Sakay program can still continue even without the need for a new legislation and additional budget because the Department of Transportation (DoTr) still has an available P3 billion in untapped funding under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2021.

“Even with the expiration of the Bayanihan 2 Law, the DoTr can still continue implementing Libreng Sakay without the need for a new legislation. The program has a separate allocation from the national budget of more than P3 billion. This is more than enough to fund the extension of the Libreng Sakay program until December 30. This should give Congress more time to act on pending legislations that provides funding for the extension or possible expansion of the program,” Sarmiento said.

A total of P8.58 billion has been allocated to finance the government’s service contracting program purposely to assist the public transport sector which incurred heavy financial losses because of the various degrees of quarantine protocols that were implemented amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the total amount, 5.58 billion will come from the Bayanihan 2 fund and P3 billion from the GAA 2021.

But since its implementation, the DoTr only managed to obligate some P1.824 billion and disburse P1.420 billion drawn from the Bayanihan 2 budget.

This represents only 25.44% percent of the total amount of the available service contracting budget.

With the expiration of the Bayanihan 2 Law, what remains of the P5.58 billion (P3.75 billion) that was allotted for service contracting will have to be reverted to the national treasury.

The reverted fund, Sarmiento said, can be re-allocated under a new legislation or in the 2022 General Appropriations Act to fund the Libreng Sakay program.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Ryan Ponce Pacpaco