Palace: Government exhausts efforts to mitigate inflation

MANILA – Malacañang on Tuesday assured that the Duterte government is implementing efforts to mitigate the rise in consumer prices.

Acting presidential spokesperson and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar guranteed in a virtual Palace press briefing that the government keeps on monitoring the prices of basic commodities.

“Patuloy nating minamatiyagan ang presyo ng pangunahing bilihin, ‘yung basic goods. Alam natin na ang pagtaas ng inflation ay dulot ng pagtaas ng presyo ng langis (We continue to monitor the prices of basic good. We know that inflation increased due to rise in world oil prices),” Andanar said.

Based on the data issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country’s headline inflation quickened to 5.4 percent in May 2022 from 4.9 percent in April.

The inflation rate in May is within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ forecast range of 5.0 to 5.8 percent for the month.

According to Andanar, the fuel subsidy program of the government would help mitigate the impact of global inflationary pressures.

Under the Pantawid Pasada program, more than 180,000 public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers and operators have received their PHP6,500 fuel subsidy as of June 1.

The Service Contracting Program (SCP) will benefit both PUV drivers and commuters, Andanar added.

The SCP is part of the government’s targeted assistance to aid vulnerable sectors mitigate the impact of successive oil price hikes.

PUV operators will be contracted through an agreement based on a plan prepared by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board under the SCP.

Regardless of the number of passengers, PUV drivers will be receiving regular performance-based subsidies based on the number of trips made per week.

The Department of Transportation has extended the free rides on the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 until June 30 this year, Andanar noted.

Following the recent decision of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board of metropolis to increase the minimum wage, he said that workers in Metro Manila have begun receiving an additional PHP33 per day.