Only 40% Pantawid Pasada beneficiaries availed of subsidy —DOF

Only 40 percent of the Pantawid Pasada beneficiaries have availed of the P5,000 fuel subsidy from the government to ease the effect of the Tax  Reform for Acceleration for Inclusion law.

As of October 22, a total of 56,154 public utility jeepney franchise holders out of 142,000 received the card, Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua said Wednesday.

“The problem is documentation. The evidence or documents are not sufficient to prove that they are valid franchise holders, only 56,154 can produce the documents,” he told the Senate committee on economic affairs.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, committee chairman, was disappointed by the situation saying it is now the fourth quarter of 2018 and the beneficiaries have yet to get relief from the impact of tax reform.

“Mabilis mangkoletka sa taumbayan pero mahirap magbigay ng tulong. It is very disappointing because we are answerable to our constituents. How can we explain that there are 142,000 cards but we cannot give out,” he said.

Chua noted that the beneficiaries who have come to claim the benefits could not produce the documents. The DOF official was citing the position of the Department of Transportation, which is responsible for giving out the cards.

“The 142,000 are the franchise given so they are existing. Those coming to claim the cards cannot produce the franchise documents. We have to be very careful kasi when we give out the cards sometimes franchise is under the operator but the driver is the one claiming. Sometimes the franchise may have been sold. These are problems that DOTr and LTFRB are facing,” he said.

LTFRB is the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board.

To address the problem, Senator Nancy Binay suggested both the DOTr and LTFRB should go down to the franchise holders.

“Hindi po ba pwedeng baligtarin natin ang proseso? Hindi po ba pwedeng ang DOTr at LTRFB ang bumaba tutal nasa kanila ‘yung listahan? Bakit hindi sila ang bumaba at pumunta sa franchise holders? Hindi ba dapat ‘yung LTFRB na ang maghanap sa dapat bigyan?” she said.

Pantawid Pasada beneficiaries must check their names on the master list, then undergo a verification process and submit the required documents—including a 1” x 1” picture and valid identification card.

They also need to fill out a Landbank Enrollment Form before they can get their activated. Once the whole process is complete, they can start using their card. —VDS, GMA News