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02 Marso 2022, Miyerkules
3 months to EMMANUEL
PACQUIAO 22
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P2.5 B for PUV drivers’ fuel subsidy —DBCC
By Nidz Godino
“To assist the transport sector, the government is preparing to release P2.5 billion for the Fuel Subsidy Program of the Department of Transportation (DOTr),” the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) said the Duterte administration’s economic managers is ready to provide targeted relief assistance to alleviate impact of recent spike in petroleum prices to affected sectors.
In a statement, the DBCC comprised of the secretaries of Finance, Budget, and Socioeconomic Planning is “closely monitoring factors affecting oil prices in the country.”
The economic managers said government is prepared to release funds to aid Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) drivers, farmers, and fisherfolk.
“This aims to provide fuel vouchers to over 377,000 qualified PUV drivers who are operating jeepneys, UV express, taxis, tricycles, and other full-time ride-hailing and delivery services nationwide,” the DBCC said.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), last week, said DOTr has already requested Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for funds to cover 377,443 beneficiaries, who will be receiving fuel subsidies amounting to P6,500 each, or a total of P2,453,379,500.
The LTFRB has also thumbed down any possibility of granting fare hikes for PUVs, DOTr is avoiding burden on commuters and is more inclined to assist in meeting financial needs of public transport sector through service contract programs and Pantawid Pasada.
Apart from fuel subsidies for PUVs sector, the DBCC said the Department of Agriculture (DA) has a budget of P500 million to provide assistance through fuel discounts to farmers and fisherfolk who either individually own and operate agricultural and fishery machinery or operate through farmers organization or cooperative.
“This will help mitigate the impact of elevated fuel prices on production and transport costs of farm and fishery products,” the economic managers said.
The DA, said earlier threshold for giving farmers and fishers fuel subsidy has not yet been met despite recent oil price hikes, noting that world crude price should hit $80 per barrel to trigger release of fuel subsidies.
Citing the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) latest assessment as of February 17, 2022, the DBCC said Dubai crude oil price for this year is projected to average at $83.3 per barrel.
“This is expected to decelerate to $79.0 by the end of this year based on the latest oil futures,” it added.
Oil rose above $105 a barrel amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, exacerbating concerns about disruptions to global energy supply.
Economic managers said government is also pursuing holistic value chain approach to ensure adequate and affordable food supply amidst rising oil prices.
“In particular, DA supports legislation such as Senate Bill No. 139 or Philippine Livestock Development Industry Act and Senate Bill No. 2176 or the Affordable Pork Act to help ease possible domestic supply constraints and prevent second-round effects on prices,” the DBCC stressed.
“The DBCC remains committed to taking decisive action to ensure unhampered supply of goods and services despite rising oil prices amid pandemic…these will support our full recovery and sustained growth in 2022 and beyond,” it concluded.
The Department of Health (DOH) recorded 1,067 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the country’s caseload to 3,663,059 as nine laboratories failed to submit data on time.
The country’s active case count is 51,592, 489 are asymptomatic, 46,609 are mild, 2,779 are moderate, 1,417 are severe, and 289 are critical.
The DOH said of the new cases 652 or 61% occurred within recent 14 days from February 16 to March 1, 2022.
Among the top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were the National Capital Region (NCR) with 144 or 22%, followed by Region 4-A with 92 or 14% and Region 3 with 72 or 11%.
A total of 1,652 more patients recovered from respiratory disease, bringing total tally to 3,555,016.
The Health department also reported zero deaths. The death toll remained at 56,451.
Philippines’ COVID-19 positivity rate was at 4.3%, which is lower than the World Health Organization’s requirement target of less than 5% positivity rate. The total conducted COVID-19 tests were at 18,766.
“Please note that lower reported numbers and positivity rate today are because these are Sunday laboratory outputs, which traditionally have the lowest outputs per week,” DOH said.
DOH said all laboratories were operational since February 27, while there were nine laboratories that failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System.
“Based on data in the last 14 days, the nine labs contribute, on average, 1.4% of samples tested and 1.4% of positive individuals,” it said.
It reported five duplicates were removed from the total case count. Of these, three are recoveries.
Based on the latest data, it also showed that 26% of 3,700 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients nationwide are in use.
At least 15% of 14,300 ward beds in the country were utilized, while 24% of the 4,000 ward beds in the NCR were in use.
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