About 2,100 jeepney drivers from Negros Occidental will finally receive P6,000 each from the SAP or the Social Amelioration Program in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic under the Bayanihan 1 Act through the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The new list of jeepney driver-beneficiaries included those who were not originally registered under the SAP but were found to be qualified after review, said Pacita Tero, head of the Department of Social Services and Development of Bacolod City.
Tero said they have actually listed 2,700 beneficiaries for Bacolod but upon review, 600 drivers were deemed disqualified since they have already received SAP assistance during the first or the second tranche.
Of the 2,100 new beneficiaries, 600 were already given P6,000 each last week for the first batch.
The release for the remaining 1,500 drivers is scheduled on Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, she said.
The distribution of the SAP was done by DSWD Region 6 personnel, Tero added.
Diego Malacad, secretary-general of the United Negros Drivers and Operators Center, said aside from the SAP, the transport sector will also receive fuel subsidy under the program of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board with the funding to be taken from Bayanihan 2 Act.
Qualified drivers, Malacad said, are those who registered under the Drivers Academy Program last year of the LTFRB.
An estimated 3,000 drivers registered under the DAP in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental.
Some of them, like those plying the Shopping and Granada routes, have started to receive their fuel subsidies amounting to between P1,000 to P2,500 to selected drivers only.
Malacad has appealed to the LTFRB for transparency as to who can avail of the fuel subsidy program for the transport sector as its stakeholders also suffered from the pandemic.
Janet Solinap, chief of the LTFRB Region 6 Transportation and Development Office, said she cannot determine as to the total number of drivers from Negros Occidental who are entitled to the subsidy but the funds have already been endorsed by their agency to the DSWD units of towns and cities for distribution and identification of beneficiaries. – MML
