BALANGA CITY – The COVID-19 pandemic has been harsh to working men and women with around 3.8 million considered jobless according to DOLE.
A transport group, Samahan ng mga Tsuper and Operator Tutol sa Phaseout (STOP-WPL) said, most of them, small drivers and operators have received little or no aid from government since the lockdown last March.
Now, with many of them unable to ply the old routes, the group said those that can only eke 1/10th or 1/15th of their old income. As seen on news programs on TV, some of them are reduced to accumulating debts or begging on the streets to get by.
“In this scenario, LTFRB MC 2020-027 has pegged the deadline for consolidating individual franchises and imposing the use of prototype vehicles which may be 10% bigger in seating capacity but is 400% more expensive than jeepneys,” the transport group lamented.
According to them, this will adversely impact the government’s most reliable partner in providing transport service to the public—jeepney drivers and moves both goods and people, essential as we are opening the economy in the midst of the pandemic.
