Poe hits LTFRB, DILG over ‘sluggish’ subsidy release amid fuel price hikes

Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday criticized the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) over its "sluggish" distribution of fuel subsidies to the transportation sector six months after oil prices started to rise.

"It bears stressing that the increase in the prices of petroleum products has started in January while the government announced its plans to disburse fuel subsidies as early as February," Poe noted.

"Almost half of the year has gone by without sufficient relief. Umaasa tayo ng mas maagap na tugon mula sa pamahalaan."

The lawmaker issued the statement while urging the LTFRB to vet and the DILG to submit the list of fuel subsidy recipients.

"Months of sluggish response from concerned government agencies have pushed our transportation sector to the edge. A number of public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers and operators are set to stage a wide-scale transportation strike should the problem on the rising prices of petroleum products not be sufficiently addressed," Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Services, said.

According to the lawmaker, the latest update showed that the LTFRB already disbursed fuel subsidies to around 250,000 of the 264,000 recipients.

However, Poe noted that the DILG had not yet submitted a list of verified tricycle drivers and operators.

"We fought for a critical P2.5-billion fuel subsidy provision for PUVs in this year's budget. Mariin nating isinulong na makapaglaan ng pondong maaaring magamit ng ating mga tsuper at PUV operator sa panahon ng krisis tulad ng kinakaharap nila ngayon," Poe said.

(We pushed to allocate funds that can be used by our drivers and PUV operators in times of crisis like the one that they are facing right now.)

"That such amount has not been fully disbursed while our country deals with a crisis of epic proportions is beyond comprehension," she added.

Further, the lawmaker renewed calls for the Executive Department, particularly the Department of Finance, to suspend the imposition of excise taxes on fuel and petroleum products until the global market normalizes again.

Poe vowed to push for the same cause in the future if necessary.

"[W]hile the legislature is on a break, the executive department must alleviate the pain of our PUV drivers and operators. Gobyerno lamang ang maaaring sandalan ng ating mga tsuper sa pagharap nila sa krisis na ito," she stressed.

"While it is true that failure to meet our revenue targets may have adverse effects on our country, so could a transportation strike which can paralyze operations in key areas and cost us much more," Poe explained.

In a press briefing Tuesday, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said the outgoing administration of President Rodrigo Duterte will maintain its position in the non-suspension of the excise taxes on fuel despite the rising oil prices as the revenues from these duties are needed to fund government programs.

Recently, several oil firms announced another round of pump price hikes, marking the second straight week of increases for diesel and kerosene.

In separate advisories, Chevron Philippines Inc. (Caltex), Flying V, Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., and Seaoil Philippines Inc. said they will hike prices per liter of gasoline by P2.70, diesel by P6.55, and kerosene by P5.45.

Cleanfuel, Petro Gazz, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc., and PTT Philippines Corp. will implement the same changes excluding kerosene, which they do not carry.

The adjustments will take effect at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, June 7, for all the firms except for Cleanfuel which will implement the changes at 8:01 a.m., and Caltex at 12:01 a.m. the same day.

Other firms have yet to make similar announcements for the week. — DVM, GMA News