House transpo panel chair says Libreng Sakay can still continue

House committee on transportation chairperson Edgar Mary Sarmiento on Friday said the Department of Transportation’s Libreng Sakay program could still continue even if Bayanihan 2, the law that funds it, expired last June 30.

Sarmiento explained that the Libreng Sakay program could be implemented without the need for a new legislation and additional budget as the DOTr still has an available P3 billion in untapped funding under the General Appropriations Act of 2021.

“Even with the expiration of the Bayanihan 2 law, the DoTr can still continue implementing Libreng Sakay without the need for a new legislation. The program has a separate allocation from the national budget of more than P3 billion,” he said.

“This is more than enough to fund the extension of the Libreng Sakay program until December 30. This should give Congress more time to act on pending legislations that provides funding for the extension or possible expansion of the program,” he said.

The Samar lawmaker said a total of P8.58 billion has been allocated to finance the government’s service contracting program to assist the public transport sector, which incurred heavy financial losses because of the effects of the quarantine protocols implemented amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the total amount, P5.58 billion will come from the Bayanihan 2 fund and P3 billion from the GAA 2021, added Sarmiento.

According to Sarmiento, the DOTr only managed to obligate some P1.824 billion and disburse P1.420 billion drawn from the Bayanihan 2 budget. This represents only 25.44% of the total amount of the available service contracting budget.

Data from the DOTr indicated that at least 27 million passengers have been served by its free rides programs since March 2020.

The free rides were provided in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao. —AOL, GMA News