MANILA: Philippine authorities started distributing cash assistance to public transport workers in the Manila capital region to help them cope with rising fuel prices in the wake of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Soon after the US and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz — through which most of Asia’s energy supply transits — has sharply affected the Philippines, which depends almost entirely on the Middle East for its crude oil imports.
After implementing a four-day work week for civil servants and reducing ferry schedules in some areas, the Philippine government began rolling out cash aid on Tuesday to add to the temporary relief measures, starting with public transport workers.
“Starting today, we are extending assistance to everyone — especially transport workers like tricycle drivers and others in the transport sector — to help offset the rising prices,” said Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. after overseeing the cash handout distribution for the first batch of tricycle drivers in Manila.
Tricycles are hugely popular in the Philippines and considered one of the most common modes of transportation. The cash assistance program is targeting 139,000 tricycle drivers in the Manila capital region, each of whom will receive 5,000 Philippine pesos ($83).
The subsidy will later cover those outside of Manila, as well as jeepney drivers and ride-hailing drivers, according to a release issued by the Presidential Communications Office. The Philippine Department of Transportation is also expected to release fuel subsidies in the last week of March.
“We’re doing this so those of you who rely on driving for a living won’t be hit as hard, and so commuters going to work won’t suffer too much even as prices continue to rise. We will keep doing this for as long as the situation remains like this,” Marcos said.
With diesel expected to reach 114.90 pesos per liter this week, the price has nearly doubled since before the Iran war broke out, when it averaged between 60.50 and 63.19 pesos.
“The diesel price increase has really hit our livelihood hard. The financial assistance the government is giving — or will give us — still isn’t enough because fuel prices just keep going up,” Jubert Lly Randoy, a jeepney driver and operations manager of a transport cooperative, told Arab News.
“Before this, on a typical day, we earned around 1,000 pesos ($16). But now, just 5 liters of diesel already costs more than 500 pesos. That’s a huge impact.”
Philippine officials announced on Tuesday a series of price hikes across a range of local transportation. While this includes the jeepneys that millions of Filipinos rely on to get to work each day, it does not extend to the ubiquitous tricycles. The new prices are set to take effect on Thursday.
“Some of the commuters are already complaining, too. They’re saying we shouldn’t raise the fare. But if the fares are not increased, how are my fellow drivers and I supposed to earn anything? How will we buy rice?” Joseph Ganotice, a 19-year-old jeepney driver from San Mateo, told Arab News.
Jeepney drivers still have to consider the high costs of “boundary,” a rental scheme where they pay owners a fixed fee to operate the vehicle.
“We’re just driving the jeepney, it’s not even ours. We still have to pay the boundary. And the diesel price has surged again. At that rate, what time will we even be able to go back to the garage and then go home?” Ganotice said.
“The money we’re supposed to use to buy food ends up going to diesel instead. It’s really hard for us.”
