MANILA — President Marcos wants to fast-track the release of fuel subsidies to transport workers, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said yesterday, as motorists braced for yet another round of price hikes in fuel products this week.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the outlay for the fuel subsidy is available, but under the General Appropriations Act (GAA), the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has to issue a joint memorandum circular (JMC) before it can be released.
In a recent statement, Pangandaman said the JMC and its accompanying memorandum of agreement would set the process for the identification and validation of beneficiaries.
“Yes. In fact, when (Transportation) Secretary (Jaime) Bautista called me last week, we told him they have to finish their JMC. Their JMC does not have many amendments. I think they can use the previous JMC and then sign it and submit it to us, then we will release the budget,” she said at a press briefing in Malacañang.
“Of course, what the President wants is if it is in the budget, it should be used immediately. We hope we can release it immediately once the requirements of the GAA are complied with,” she added.
The JMC will be issued by the DBM, DOTr and Department of Energy (DOE).
The government has allocated P3 billion for fuel vouchers to qualified taxi, ride-hailing and delivery service drivers in the 2023 national budget. The fuel subsidy was intended to mitigate the effects of rising oil prices on drivers of public utility vehicles.
Oil companies yesterday increased the prices of gasoline by P1.10 per liter, P0.20 per liter for diesel and P0.70 per liter for kerosene. This is the sixth straight week of price hikes for gasoline and seventh for kerosene and diesel.
Realignment
Meanwhile, women’s group Gabriela criticized Marcos for having P11.4 billion in confidential and foreign travel funds while ordinary Filipinos are
reeling from the high cost of petroleum products.
The group also scored the President for prioritizing infrastructure projects with a budget of P1.4 trillion.
“It’s better if this trillion-peso fund of BBM for pork, intel funds, silencing the people and lavish partying abroad is just allocated to petroleum product subsidy to cushion the high prices of oil and food,” Gabriela deputy secretary general Cora Agovida said in Filipino and English in a statement. (philstar)
