Robredo: Fuel subsidy must cover delivery riders, tricycle drivers

Delivery riders and tricycle drivers should be included in the government's fuel subsidy or Pantawid Pasada Program given the unabated increases in oil prices that ranged from P60 to 75 per liter, presidential candidate and Vice President Leni Robredo said Monday.

Robredo was referring to the P2.5 billion worth of fuel vouchers earmarked for some 377,000 qualified public utility vehicle drivers across the country amid the successive pump price hikes.

"Apektado din sila so dapat kasali sila. Tapos dapat kaagad, huwag ng patagalin, ibigay na kaagad kasi otherwise wala talaga silang kakainin," Robredo said at the sidelines of her campaign stop in an RMN radio interview.

(These sectors are also feeling the pinch of high prices, so they should be included in the fuel subsidy. And this should be granted immediately, or they will have nothing to eat.)

Robredo also said that all public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers should be included in the service contracting program. This would give them a fixed salary and they would no longer be tied to the boundary system in which they would have to remit a certain amount of their earnings to the owner of the PUVs they are driving.

"I have been pushing for this for the longest time, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, that we should consider implementing a service contracting system for our PUV drivers for them to have a regular salary. Because under a boundary system, they are at higher risk. Gaya ng pandemic, walang mga biyahe, wala silang kita," Robredo pointed out.

(When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they lost their source of income and had nothing.)

"We had to implement social distancing [amid the COVID-19 pandemic], [kaya] lugi talaga sila. Pero kung service contracting ito, swelduhan sila, assured tayo na lagi silang may kita," Robredo added.

(We had to implement social distancing, so that left them zero earnings. But with service contracting, we can be assured that they will earn income.)

In the long term, Robredo said that the government should invest in e-vehicles such as e-trikes, e-jeeps so that public transport won't be dependent on oil.

"Because if we continue to depend on oil like what is happening today where there is a war between Russia and Ukraine, the world prices of oil will be affected," Robredo said.

In addition, Robredo said that the government should also allocate resources for making such electric vehicles to generate jobs and reduce dependence on oil at the same time. — DVM, GMA News