Friday, May 06, 2011

DILG urges LGUS to facilitate List of “Pasada beneficiaries”

Tagbilaran City, May 6, (PIA)---THE DEPARTMENT of Interior and Local Government (DILG) here urges local government units to facilitate the submission of the list of beneficiaries for the government’s Pantawid Pasada for tricycles. 

This is so that DILG Bohol can start processing the P150.00 one-time assistance for drivers, franchise owners or operators within the set deadlines. 

“By now, they should have prepared their certified list of beneficiaries as basis for the downloading of the funds,” DILG Provincial director Ma Louella Lucino said. 

Moreover, she also asked them to put up Pantawid Pasada help desks so the beneficiaries will know where to go for queries. 

Lucino issued the plea at Kapihan sa PIA Thursday amid fears that the cash assistance may not get to the beneficiaries in time for the May target. 

She said the government has allocated P3.4M for the cash assistance in central Visayas, funds that could go directly to the pockets of an estimated P4,600 tricycle operators in Tagbilaran City and 21 other towns all over Bohol. 

The government has noted that the series of socio-political tensions in the Middle East and North Africa, which are primary sources of oil, triggered a series of oil price increases globally. 

To cushion the impact of high fuel prices, Malacanang, on April 5, 2011, issued Executive Order No. 32 establishing the Public Transport Assistance Program or the Pantawid Pasada Program. 

Under this program, the government provide drivers of legitimate franchised jeepneys and tricycles a fuel assistance of P1,050 and P150 per month, respectively. 

Buses are excluded since they have already been granted recently a P1.00 fare hike. 

The government has also tasked the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to lead in the determination of jeepney beneficiaries and the DILG to coordinate with the Local Government Units who issues local franchises to operate. 

She said the LGUS need to certify the beneficiaries and the local franchising office, the mayor and the vice mayor should sign the list, adding that the town council would need to authorize mayors to sign the memorandum of agreement with the program implementers. 

As to the jeepneys, Land Transportation Office Bohol Chiey Joel Maloloy-on admits they still have to see the implementing circulars but said they are just one of the support agencies to the program. 

“We would be asking the LTFRB to send us the exact number of beneficiaries so we could prepare [beneficiaries] from our end,” Maloloy-on said. (Rey Anthony Chiu)

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