Naval, Biliran – The provincial government here has launched the “Habal-habal sa mga Eskwela” which is a 100 percent subsidized transportation system for indigent students living in remote villages where the only means of transportation – habal-habal — is unaffordable for the students.

Provincial Social Welfare and Development (PSWD) officer Flor Trani said Biliran Gov. Rogelio “Roger” J. Espina, an advocate of education as tool from poverty, has been concerned by reports that many of students from far-flung villages are dropping out from school, hence they conceptualized and developed the free ride system.

She said that the “Habal-habal sa mga Eskwela” program is now being piloted in five schools namely, which include: the Almeria National High School, and Tabonan National High School, both in the town of Almeria; Tukdao National High School in Kawayan; Manlabang National High School in Caibiran; Naval School of Fisheries in Naval — which includes both the day and night classes of that school.

The teachers of the pilot schools are the ones that provided the provincial government with the list of students living in remote areas – who are prone to be absent, and are at the verge of dropping out from school due to their predicament in transportation.

Meanwhile, the provincial government through the PSWD investigates the proposed beneficiaries, by visiting and interviewing them with their parents. When they qualify, they are given cards or coupons with corresponding denominations in which the students would give to the habal-habal drivers as fare payments for actual rides to school.

The system is coordinated with the Association of Habal-habal Drivers in the remote areas where there are identified beneficiaries so that the coupons will be honored, which in turn they (drivers) can encash said cards or coupons anytime at the Provincial Treasurer’s Office, Trani said.