Skyway Stage 3 toll fees waived indefinitely for medical frontliners —SMC

Medical frontliners will be allowed to use the newly opened Skyway Stage 3 for free indefinitely, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) said Wednesday.

In a statement, SMC president Ramon Ang said some 10,400 medical professionals will benefit from the waived toll fees at Skyway Stage 3, “the same way they have been allowed to use all SMC expressways toll-free since the pandemic hit the country in March last year.”

Skyway Stage 3 officially opened to motorists on January 15, 2021. It is currently toll-free for all motorists until the end of the month.

The proposed toll fees at the elevated toll road range from P110 to P274 depending on the length of the trip from point of entry to exit point. 

Ang said that as of January 18, 2021 the company has waived a total of P156 million in toll fees for doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, and other medical workers fighting the pandemic since March 2020.

Since mid-June 2020, SMC has been implementing a “no toll fees” policy for medical practitioners at its expressways, which are the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR), the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), the Skyway system, NAIA Expressway (NAIAX), and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX). 

“This time of pandemic, we need to help our country, our fellow Filipinos, and each other, as much as we can. We have been providing this courtesy to our medical practitioners non-stop, because it’s our way of honoring them and thanking them for their selfless efforts to save lives and to help us survive this crisis,” Ang said.

SMC said the company fully funded the project with “no government subsidies or guarantees.”

The company also paid in full for all right-of-way properties and built three new bridges in San Juan, Mandaluyong, and Manila. — Ted Cordero/BM, GMA News