Calls mount for Senate probe into LTFRB’s low funds utilization
MANILA, Philippines — Another lawmaker is urging the Senate to investigate the reported low utilization of funds of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board under its service contracting program which led to delayed benefits for drivers and operators of public utility vehicles.
In a statement, opposition Sen. Leila De Lima said she filed Senate Resolution No. 862 for hearings into Commission on Audit's 2020 report flagging the LTFRB for using only 1% of the P5.58 billion fund allocated to the program for drivers.
Under service contracting, drivers and operators of public utility vehicles are subsidized by the national government according to how many kilometers they drive on their routes instead of the boundary system where they're paid off how many passengers they serve.
“PUV drivers are among the sectors most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. On and off restrictions to travel and transportation imposed by the national government to control the spread of the virus have likewise prevented PUV drivers from earning a steady source of income,” De Lima said in a statement.
“Failure to implement a social assistance program addressed to a particularly vulnerable sector of the society amounts to gross neglect on the part of the government and the implementing agency to the prejudice of the program beneficiaries."
Transport groups have long urged the LTFRB to hasten the implementation of the program, pointing to the delayed payments happening despite the extension of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act.
To recall, the COA flagged the LTFRB for using only one percent of the P5.58 billion funds allocated to the program for drivers amid the COVID-19 pandemic – an amount equivalent to just P59 million pesos utilized.
According to the COA report, delays in the implementation of the Service Contracting Program ranging from two to 10 weeks as of 31 December 2020 resulted in minimal fund utilization and led to the delayed benefits to the public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers and operators who are beneficiaries in the program.
De Lima said the timely delivery of the government’s assistance and livelihood programs for the vulnerable sectors becomes all the more essential with the emergence of even deadlier COVID-19 variants coupled with the slow rollout of the government’s vaccination program threatening to lead to further restrictions on transport and mobility.
According to LTFRB, this means COA's report covered only one month of the program's implementation. LTFRB also said P1.5 billion of the program's funds have been released to beneficiary drivers as of June 30, 2021.
Other senators also called for hearings to investigate the state auditors' findings.
“The LTFRB failed to fully deliver the Service Contracting Program within its original timeframe. Even with the extension of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, they still flopped in fully utilizing their allocated budget for the program. These delays raise serious concerns on the capacity of the LTFRB to implement the program in the first place,” De Lima said.
“In more than a year of the pandemic, no matter what other propaganda the government says, it is clear that the aid that is coming is very scarce. Don't let those who have been in need for a long time sink into debt and starve even more,” she added in Filipino.
LTFRB chair Martin Delgra said at last week's Laging Handa briefing that the used funds actually amounted to some 26% of the total budget.
RELATED: Transport drivers warned: Follow public health protocols
The remaining funds were returned to the Department of Budget and Management, which has also yet to approve the LTFRB's request for funding from the country's budget.
Transport workers have since been forced to return to the earlier "boundary system" that depended on the number of customers they served — now limited to just 50% of their vehicle capacity under quarantine rules.
This, as the Philippine National Police directed its personnel to begin issuing Temporary Operators Permit [as well as] Official Violator’s Receipt, and Traffic Citation Tickets to violators in public transportation.
— Franco Luna with a report from Bella Perez-Rubio
- Latest
- Trending
