Erroneous list delays aid for trike drivers

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian called out the interior department for supposedly coming up with an erroneous list of tricycle drivers and operators who can receive cash aid.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian on Saturday denounced the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and local governments for supposedly coming up with an error-filled list of beneficiaries, thus resulting in delays in the distribution of cash aid to tricycle drivers reeling from high fuel prices.

Gatchalian aired his dismay that tricycle drivers have not received their fuel subsidy from the government because of inaccuracies in the names of beneficiaries that the DILG and local governments had submitted to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

“The grant of fuel subsidies for our public transport drivers under our Pantawid Pasada program will become pointless if this continues to be stricken with delays, while the increases in fuel prices are endless,” he said.

The Pantawid Pasada program intends to provide a fuel subsidy of P1,000 each to all 617,806 tricycle driver-beneficia

ries all over the country, he said.

The distribution of the first tranche of fuel subsidy for the tricycle drivers, originally intended to be distributed on May, was delayed because the DILG submitted its final list only in the second week of June, the senator said.

Mismatch

Gatchalian called out the DILG and local governments following reports that a number of those in their list of target

ed beneficiaries did not match with the names of electronic wallet account holders of the Land Bank of the Philippines, the designated depositary bank for the Pantawid Pasada funds.

Landbank discovered the errors after doing a random check on the list of beneficiaries, the senator said.

The licensing and regulation of public tricycles is under the jurisdiction of local governments, pursuant to the Local Government Code of 1991.

Under DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2022-047, local governments are directed to submit a validated list of tricycle drivers, tricycle franchisees, addresses, electronic wallet accounts and number of operating tricycles and other details within their respective jurisdictions.

Via electronic wallets

According to Gatchalian, the tricycle drivers’ details must be prepared and certified correct by the head of a local government’s tricycle franchising board and the head of the local tricycle operators and drivers association, and by the city or town mayors and vice mayors.

The procedure for tricycle drivers mandates Landbank to remit the fuel subsidies through electronic wallets, the senator said.

To facilitate their receipt of fuel subsidies, LTFRB and Landbank are drafting a set of supplemental guidelines to allow tricycle driver-beneficiaries to claim their fuel subsidy overthe-counter from any Landbank branch nationwide, by presenting a valid driver’s license.