THE series of oil price increases lately has become an added burden on Filipino households already reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The sectors most affected by this problem are the drivers and operators of public utility vehicles such as jeepneys, the tricycle drivers, and farmers and fishermen in the countryside who use petroleum products in their livelihood activities.
In the wake of this economic problem, concerns about an increase in inflation rate for the rest of the year have been aired. This problem of rising prices of oil is an international issue, since the fast recovering economies of the United States, China, India and others needed oil, increasing demand, and thus also the price. The Philippines as a net importer of oil, as always, is left to the vagaries of the market. It is welcome news, therefore, that the government plans to release P1 billion in cash grants to public utility vehicle drivers in response to soaring pump prices.
‘May the government continue
supporting fisherfolk and
jeepney drivers, along with
the common workers who have families to feed and support.’
The funds will be distributed under the Pantawid Pasada Program of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, it was announced by the Development Budget Coordination Committee.
The Department of Transportation said the fuel subsidies will be released to drivers’ cash cards through the Land Bank. The department committed to distribute the funds during the last two months of the year.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Energy are in talks about the possible implementation of a gasoline discount mechanism in the fisheries sector, one of the most hit farm sub-sectors by the incessant rise in gasoline prices.
DA Undersecretary for Agri-Industrialization and Fisheries Cheryl Marie Natividad-Caballero said the government is now in an advanced stage of discussion about how to give discounts to legitimate fishermen.
The first group of fisherfolk to benefit are 30,000 municipal fisherfolk and 138 commercial fishing vessel operators based within the West Philippine Sea (WPS), she said.
Even if this is only a small group, we believe this is the start of helping the fisheries sector in this time of oil supply crisis. May the government continue supporting fisherfolk and jeepney drivers, along with the common workers who have families to feed and support.
