Metro Manila, Philippines – More public transportation drivers suffering from costly fuel will benefit from the government’s cash aid with the ongoing verification of additional names to the list of recipients, according to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
LTFRB board member Greg Pua said transportation network companies have submitted updated lists to the agency.
In a briefing on Monday, March 30, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said a number of MC (motorcycle) taxi riders were classified as service delivery riders by TNCs (transportation network companies) resulting in missed scheduled payout.
“Ang personal ko na obserbasyon do’n, again, itinago na naman sila ng mga operator nila. Pinalabas na service delivery sila kasi lumagpas na sa quota ng backride type of operation,” Gatchalian told reporters. “No other logical reason kung bakit i-misclassify.”
[Translation: My personal observation is that they were concealed by their operators, tagged them as survive delivery because they already breached the quota for backride-type operations. No other logical reason for the misclassification.]
Last week, some TNVS (transport network vehicle service) drivers were not in the list after TNCs filtered the records, removing “tempo drivers” or those who were registered with the TNC but still don’t have a certificate of public convenience.
Pua said TNCs reported 134,000 more drivers and riders after a meeting with government agencies.
He said the LTFRB is verifying 29,000 TNVS drivers and 78,000 MC taxi riders after flagging duplicate names.
The official said the LTFRB will look into opening more slots for the TNVS drivers.
For the three MC taxi companies, however, the rider cap is only over 52,800, since their operations are still under pilot implementation.
An investigation will be conducted to check possible violations and penalties.
“Bawal na bawal sa TNCs mag-onboard ng colorum so may violation ng rules ‘yan, pero titingnan muna natin kung pwedeng tulungan muna ang tempo drivers dahil during this time of crisis mas kailangan ma-legitimize sila,” Pua said during the briefing.
[Translation: The TNCs are prohibited to onboard colorum drivers so those are violations. But we are checking how to help tempo drivers since they need to be legitimized during this time of crisis.]
Gatchalian vowed that those ride-hailing app drivers already under the TNCs will receive their aid, with the special payout to be scheduled after the Holy Week break.
Distribution outside of NCR
Aside from the special payout sessions, Gatchalian said the distribution of cash relief outside Metro Manila will begin after the Holy Week.
He said the target launch will be on April 8, starting with tricycle drivers.
Local government units have been told to submit updated lists of tricycle drivers, as well as meet with associations of jeepney operators and drivers to ensure complete records.
As of Monday, around ₱1.28 billion was disbursed for the cash aid of over 256,000 driver-beneficiaries.
