Almost 130,000 PUVs qualified for LTFRB's fuel subsidy

MANILA, Philippines — Qualified beneficiaries of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board's (LTFRB) fuel subsidy program has now reached 128,912.

This data, obtained on Friday, shows that the LTFRB has disbursed over P840.61 million in subsidies to Landbank of the Philippines (LBP) for the program.

"Sa nasabing datos, 92,755 na mga benepisyaryo na ang nakatanggap ng fuel subsidy na mayroong katumbas na P483,748,500 na halaga ng subsidiyang naipamigay (Based on the data, 92,755 beneficiaries have already recieved the subsidy amounting to an equivalent of P483,748,500)," the board explained in a statement on Saturday.

The state started distributing the subsidy in the hopes of cushioning the adverse effects of the continuous rise in pump prices over the last few weeks.

It could be remembered that the Department of Budget and Management released over P3 billion in fuel subsidies for PUV drivers and operators just this September.

"Samantala, tiniyak naman ng LTFRB na patuloy ang pakikipag-ugnayan nito sa LBP para sa tuloy-tuloy at mabilis na pamamahagi ng subsidiya sa mga kwalipikadong benepisyaryo ng Fuel Subsidy Program (Meanwhile, the LTFRB continues to coordinate this with the LBP for continous and efficient distribution of the subsidy for qualified beneficiaries of the Fuel Subsidy Program)," the LTFRB said.

Last week, the Commission on Elections granted an exemption to the fuel subsidy program from the election spending ban, specifically for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.