MANILA, Philippines — Sherwin "Win" Gatchalian, who chairs his chamber's energy committee, called on the government to fast track the distribution of fuel subsidies to beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pasada Program as fuel prices rose for the 12th time this year.
Less than a third or 115,000 PUV (public utility vehicle) drivers and operators have each received their P6,500 fuel subsidy from the government under the program, based on data from the lawmaker's office.
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The first tranche of the Pantawid Pasada was supposed to be released this month, Gatchalian said. Meanwhile, there is an upcoming second tranche of funds which is set to be released this April.
"From the way things are going, it looks like we won't be able to distribute the fuel subsidies to half of the beneficiaries. There are funds allotted for this. I hope [the government] will ramp up their distribution to ease the burden of PUV drivers," he said in Filipino in a statement.
In an earlier hearing which he presided, Gatchalian noted the delay in the distribution of fuel subsidies to tricycle drivers and delivery service riders- both of which are also tagged as beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pasada.
The State earlier doubled its budget to P5 billion for the Pantawid Pasada.
This week, domestic oil firms raised gas, diesel and kerosene prices following developments affecting the global oil market. According to several advisories, companies announced price hikes in their gasoline products by P3.40 per liter, diesel by P8.65 per liter and kerosene by P9.40 per liter.
READ: Fuel prices rise for 12th time this year
The sustained rise in fuel prices since the start of the year prompted the government to release fuel subsidies for the transport and agriculture sectors.
Some lawmakers have also suggested to suspend the collection of the fuel excise taxes in a bid to cushion the impact of oil prices on consumers, but the Finance department said it was against such a move since it would increase government borrowings.