Some 178,000 public utility drivers will get cash aid worth a total P1 billion to help them cope with rising fuel prices, President Rodrigo Duterte's economic managers said Monday.
The fuel subsidies will be released to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, which will distribute it under the Pantawid Pasada mechanism, the economic team said.
The Development Budget Coordinating Committee did not specify how much each driver will get.
Out of work for months at the start of the pandemic, public utility drivers now have to operate below pre-pandemic capacity and fuel price incereases add to their worries.
Several presidential aspirants have called for the suspension of excise taxes on petroleum to help cushion price increases.
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