CESAR Escolar, 57, patiently waited for passengers to fill all the 24 seating spaces in his jeepney.
Escobar needed to carry as many passengers as he could to have a decent earning for the day especially that he would need to spend more in buying diesel to fuel his public utility jeep (PUJ).
This was after oil companies implemented another big time price hike for gasoline, diesel and kerosene effective starting 6 a.m. of Tuesday, May 22.
Gasoline price went up to by P1.50 to P1.60 per liter ; while kerosene was at P0.85 to P0.95 per liter.
Since January, the oil prices have already shot up by P8.07 for gasoline, P8.95 for diesel and P9.21 for kerosene.
According to Escolar, the new oil price hike would drastically reduce the earnings of PUJ drivers like him, and he would not know where and how to earn extra.
Escolar pays for the maintenance cost for his PUJ since he owns the unit he drives.
Despite this, Escolar said that he is still not in favor of a fare hike because of its negative impact on poor commuters, especially the students.
Escolar shared the sentiment of Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston), which is also hesitating to ask for a fare increase.
Piston-Cebu Chairman Greg Perez said they also have to consider the capacity of the commuters to pay an addition to the current P6.50 minimum fare.
“Ang mga sumasakay sa among mga jeep kay mga yanong tawo. Kutob sa among mahimo, dili lang sa gyud mi mo-demand ug pagtaas sa presyo sa pletehan kay maka-cause ni siya og domino effect sa ubang presyo pod sa palaliton,” said Perez.
(Those who ride jeepneys are ordinary people. As much as we can, we would rather not demand for a fare hike because of its domino effect on the price of goods).
Perez said that as of Tuesday afternoon, Piston agreed to ask the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulartory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB -7) to just re-impose the P7 minimum fare, instead of the current P6.50.
To recall, LTFB-7 imposed a probationary reduction of the minimum fare from P7 to P6.50 in 2016 as a result of the drop in fuel prices at that time.
Perez said increasing the minimum fare would not be the right solution to address the effect of the oil price hike.
Instead, Perez urged Congress to abolish the Oil Deregulation Law and impose government control on the price of petroleum products.
Perez also urged the legislators to review the provisions of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Law.
Perez said that the government needs to realize that it is the public transportation system that will suffer with the excise tax imposed on every liter of petroleum products, which caused its price to shoot up even higher.