Angara to legitimate jeepney operators: Claim your fuel subsidy cards

Senator Sonny Angara. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Reelectionist Sen. Sonny Angara has urged more than 80,000 legitimate jeepney franchise holders to claim their fuel voucher cards to avail of the government’s subsidy under the Pantawid Pasada Program (PPP).

Angara made the appeal Wednesday after the Department of Finance (DOF) reported a low turnout in the distribution of fuel subsidy cards to qualified jeepney franchise holders.

According to DOF, only 74,714 fuel vouchers were distributed out of the 155, 337 available cards as of January 15, 2019. This means that only 42.43 percent of the cards were claimed with 80,623 cards remaining unclaimed.

“Hinihikayat po natin ang mga lehitimong jeepney franchise holder na hindi pa naki-claim ang kanilang Pantawid Pasada card na magtungo sa pinakamalapit na tanggapan ng LTFRB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board) para makuha na nila ang inilaang fuel subsidy sa kanila ng gobyerno,” Angara said.

Pantawid Pasada Program – one of the government’s flagship social mitigation measures, aims to ensure that qualified jeepney operators and drivers can deal with the effects of volatility of fuel prices in the world market.

Each franchise holder is entitled to a subsidy amounting to P5,000 in 2018 and P20,514 for 2019, to be given quarterly.

Angara advised the PPP beneficiaries who have yet to claim their fuel subsidy cards to immediately proceed to the nearest LTFRB regional offices or the Land Transportation Office (LTO) on East Avenue in Quezon City for those in Metro Manila.

The LTFRB targets to complete the distribution of the unclaimed cards by March this year.

Angara noted that since Nov. 20, 2018, the LTFRB started accepting special power of attorneys (SPAs), along with other documents, for beneficiaries who cannot personally claim their cards.