LTFRB-7 Director Eduardo Montealto | Futch Anthony Inso
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Public Utility Jeepney (PUJ) operators that have not yet claimed their Pantawid Pasada Program (PPP) cash cards will not be allowed to transact with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB-7).
Eduardo Montealto Jr. , LTFRB-7 regional director, told CDN Digital in a phone interview on May 31 that jeepney operators would have to be asked to claim their PPP cash cards first before they would be allowed to do any transactions with the agency.
Montealto said that they were doing this to force the PUJ operators to claim their cash cards.
He said that only 4,000 cash cards were released by the agency to operators or 33 percent of the 11,000 PUJs registered in Central Visayas.
“We will be asking them first to claim their cash cards before they’ll be allowed to do some transactions such as renewal and certification of their franchise,” Montealto said.
Read more: LTFRB-7 distributes cash cards for Pantawid Pasada Program
He said that 98 percent of the PPP cash cards were available, which could be claimed at the Land Bank of the Philippines in Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City.
Operators are only asked to bring a photocopy of their franchise and a valid ID.
Read more: Angara to legitimate jeepney operators: Claim your fuel subsidy cards
Based on his observation, Montealto said that some operators were hesistant to claim their cash cards, because their drivers would also want to avail of the financial aid.
“So operators and their drivers might quarrel with each other. But our guidelines are clear that the cash cards are only released to operators, not to the drivers,” he added.
Last year, the agency has allocated P5,000 for each jeepney unit in order to help operators and drivers from the inceasing prices of petroleum products.
This year, LTFRB has allocated P20,000 which will be divided to P5,000 per quarter.
“Unfortunately, we cannot start the distribution of the PPP financial aid this year because the cash cards that we are distributing are still from last year,” he said./dbs