Only 50% of printed fuel subsidy cards loaded with P1,050 – DOE

Expired franchises, incomplete papers and some distribution delays have limited the effectiveness of government’s P450-million fuel subsidy program for public utility jeepneys and tricycles, the Department of Energy (DOE) said on Friday. Only about 70,000 of the 140,000 fuel subsidy cards for public utility jeepneys nationwide have been issued to their intended beneficiaries and loaded with credits, according to Helen Arias, chief of the DOE Consumer Welfare and Promotion Office, the unit that monitors the implementation of the Pantawid Pasada program. In an April 15 statement, the Bank of the Philippine Islands said it will generate and personalize 220,000 subsidy cards. The bank was contracted by government to produce the cards. Only 140,000 of the cards have been printed so far, Arias said. In a phone interview with GMA News Online, Arias said jeepney operators’ expired certificates of public convenience and incomplete documentation are among the usual problems encountered during the distribution of the fuel subsidy cards. Delays in distribution Each card is loaded with P1,050 in credits that can be used at designated gas stations. The cards, which can be used only for the purchase of diesel fuel, were first issued on May 2. For tricycles the subsidy is P150 per unit, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government. The total allotment for tricycles amount to P134.4 million, covering an estimated 896,000. The P134.4 million forms part of the P450-million program. Arias said there has also been some delay in the distribution of the subsidy cards through the field offices of the Land Transportation Office (LTO). She revealed that only 90 percent of the cards for the National Capital Region have been loaded. The Aquino administration financed the P450 million for the fuel subsidy program from the royalties government gets from the Malampaya gas field in offshore northern Palawan. President Benigno Aquino III instituted the program through Executive Order 32 issued on April 1, 2011. Several Cabinet departments then implemented EO 32 through Joint Circular No. 1 adopted on April 27. — VS, GMA News