Gatchalian

Gatchalian renews call to institutionalize fuel subsidy

October 11, 2022 PS Jun M. Sarmiento 329 views

AMID big-time petroleum price hike this week, Senator Win Gatchalian has urged anew the Land Transportation Regulatory and Franchising Board (LTFRB) and other concerned agencies to ensure an efficient and timely fuel subsidy program for affected sectors should price hikes continue.

“Kung meron na sana tayong batas para sa ayuda ng mga tsuper at operator ng public utility vehicles o PUV, hindi na sila mahihirapan pang pasanin ang bigat ng epekto ng pagtaas ng presyo ng langis lalo na’t patuloy din ang pagtaas ng presyo ng mga pangunahing bilihin,” Gatchalian said.

The senator reiterated the need to institutionalize the “Pantawid Pasada Program”, the reason why he had earlier filed Senate Bill (SB) No. 384, which provides for an energy subsidy program seeking to institutionalize Pantawid Pasada.

The proposed measure provides that the subsidy shall be granted to qualified beneficiaries when the average price of Dubai crude for three consecutive months is equal to or greater than $80 per barrel, such as in the case now.

Dubai crude was last traded at $95.80/barrel.

This proposed legislation, Gatchalian added, requires the use of digital payment systems in the distribution of the subsidy and imposes penalties against erring government officials for failure to ensure the timely release of the subsidy to all qualified beneficiaries.

“The concerned government agencies should be ready to intervene with an efficient implementation of the Pantawid-Pasada program whenever there are series of oil price hikes. We should have learned the lessons from [the] previous disbursement,” Gatchalian stressed.

Just recently, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) plus has decided to cut production on prospects of slower global economic growth. Gatchalian said this would definitely jack up domestic prices as global supply is already tight.

Meanwhile, a new fare hike took effect last October 3, but PUV drivers and operators could not collect the fare increase because they have yet to secure their copy of the new fare matrix.