De Lima seeks probe into LTFRB’s low fund use for PUV drivers

Senator Leila de Lima has urged Congress to investigate the reported low fund utilization of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) under its Service Contracting Program which led to delayed benefits for public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers.

De Lima filed Senate Resolution 862 directing the appropriate Senate committee to look into the recently released Commission on Audit (COA) report flagging the LTFRB for using only 1 percent of the P5.58 billion funds allocated to the benefit program for drivers amid the pandemic.

“PUV drivers are among the sectors most severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. On and off restrictions to travel and transportation imposed by the national government to control the spread of the virus have likewise prevented PUV drivers from earning a steady source of income,” she said.

“Failure to implement a social assistance program addressed to a particularly vulnerable sector of the society amounts to gross neglect on the part of the government and the implementing agency to the prejudice of the program beneficiaries,” she added.

Under the Service Contracting Program, which aims to subsidize PUV drivers displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the drivers would be allowed to enter into transport service contracts with the government to help in easing the impact of the pandemic.

The government, in turn, would be providing the payouts for public transportation services to the drivers who will receive a subsidy based on their performance.

Last May 5, transport groups urged the LTFRB to improve the implementation of the Service Contracting Program, lamenting the delayed and inadequate payment problems which worsen the already difficult state of PUV drivers.

The delays happened despite the extension of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act to June 30 of this year.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)