Too few gas stations giving diesel discounts — jeepney drivers

There’s a discount but where’s the diesel?

That’s the question jeepney groups appeared to be asking, as they complained about the limited number of gas stations where they can avail themselves of their P1 a liter diesel discount.

The P1 discount was among the benefits the government promised jeepney groups in exchange for their having called off the nationwide transport strike that was supposed to take place yesterday.

Jeepney drivers can avail themselves of the discount by filling up at any of 50 designated Petron stations nationwide.

Efren de Luna, national president of the Philippine Confederation of Drivers Organizations—Alliance of Transport Operators (PCDO—ACTO), said that the 50 gas stations of Petron where the discounted diesel will be made available were not enough for the more than 500,000 jeepney drivers and operators all over the country.

"The 50 gas stations will not even be enough to ensure that there will be one gas station for each province where jeepney drivers can get the discount," he said.

De Luna said that when he and the leaders of four other jeepney groups met last Friday with transport officials led by Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza, they were made to understand that the P1 diesel discount will be available in all Petron gas stations nationwide.

"We will insist that the discount be made more readily available to jeepney drivers," De Luna said.

De Luna stressed that the jeepney groups will be monitoring closely the government’s fulfillment of their promises to them in exchange for their calling off the March 8 strike.

"We want to make it clear that we are not backing down on our petition for a P1 provisional jeepney fare increase. We will wait for the LTFRB’s (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s) decision on that as soon as possible," De Luna warned.

For her part, Zeny Maranan, national president of Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (Fejodap), said they wanted the LTFRB to decide on their petition within the week and not until March 16.

"We are being made to wait by the government while jeepney drivers are suffering from high prices of oil," Maranan told The STAR.

Other benefits the government promised the jeepney groups were the liberal issuance of operator’s permits to jeepney operators to allow them the private use of their jeepneys as well as the continued implementation of the two-consortium insurance system at the LTFRB that prevents fake and dubious insurance companies from victimizing jeepney and bus operators.

The five major jeepney groups had filed a "consolidated" petition for a P1.50 jeepney fare hike last Feb. 18. The groups also included a petition for a "provisional" P1 fare increase while their main petition was being decided.