MANILA — The Department of Transportation has requested additional funding from Congress in order to continue subsidizing rides along the EDSA Busway Carousel, which are scheduled to end in December of this year.
The National Expenditure Program for 2023, the foundation of the proposed national budget, does not currently include funding for the Department of Transportation’s Service Contracting program.
Mark Steven Pastor, Transportation Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure, disclosed before the House Committee on Transportation that the DOTr had already requested approximately P12 billion to maintain the service contracting program through 2023.
“We are appealing that the service contracting program be funded so that next year the Libreng Sakay program can continue…it was not included in the NEP,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
The Move as One transport coalition has taken the position that the Libreng Sakay program “was expensive, short-lived, and resulted in a reduction of PUV supply in routes where its coverage was partial.”
Funding has always been one of the primary concerns of the Libreng Sakay program, which, according to former transportation officials, spends approximately P10 million per day on the EDSA Carousel.
The Department of Budget and Management said in a statement responding to calls for funding that service contracting funding would really have to come from Congress because it is not a regular item in the budget.
“The SCP is a non-recurring or one-time expenditure item. It is not a regular program. Hence, similar to previous years, no funds were allocated for it under the 2023 NEP,” the DBM said.
“This year, it was intended to mitigate the impact of the fuel surge. We expect oil prices to stabilize next year,” it also said, pointing out that the original service contracting was a pandemic measure implemented to assist road sector workers who were hit by the quarantines.
Commuter groups have sounded the alarm on the long lines forcing commuters to wait hours just to get a free ride, even though free rides on the EDSA Carousel has been a financial crutch for commuters amid the fuel crisis.
Robert Siy, a transport economist, stated in a previous interview that, while commuters would benefit from fully subsidizing free rides on Libreng Sakay, increasing transport capacity should be a higher priority than reducing transportation costs in light of the current fuel crisis.
“In the experience of the EDSA Busway, we need to also look at the potential of expanding dedicated lanes for public transport to other routes, and to other major corridors,” he said.
“We believe that Service Contracting is best implemented to partially subsidize public transportation and still allow transport cooperatives and corporations to collect fares. This scheme will expand the reach of the program and will sustain public transport operations longer than a Libreng Sakay scheme and is a critical support to our transport workers.”
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