By Vanne Elaine Terrazola Senator Grace Poe on May 21, Thursday, appealed to the government not to leave out public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers in the second tranche of the emergency subsidy program amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Senator Grace Poe
(ROY DOMINGO / MANILA BULLETIN) Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, issued the appeal as she noted that some 30,000 PUV drivers have yet to receive cash aid from the government under its COVID-19 social amelioration program (SAP). Based on President Duterte’s May 18 report to Congress on the implementation of the “Bayanihan to Heal as One” Act, some 62,028 PUV and transport network vehicle service (TNVS) drivers have received cash aid out of the total 90,000 estimated beneficiaries. She said the undistributed aid should be handed out to the remaining beneficiaries, including PUV drivers whose livelihoods have been disrupted by the suspension of public transport operations. “There are more PUV drivers who are barely getting by because of the two-month lockdown, and we hope that government will come to their aid,” Poe said in a statement. “We expect that the release of SAP’s second tranche to our vulnerable sectors, including drivers, will be more brisk this time, in the wake of the government’s move to send assistance instead through digital means,” she appealed. Under the “Bayanihan to Heal as One” Act, 18 million low-income households displaced by the quarantine will receive a two-month cash subsidy from the government. The executive department later raised the number of beneficiaries to 23 million. For the first tranche of the subsidy grant, 17.4 million beneficiaries nationwide or 96.77 percent of the 18-million target household have receive the cash aid, amounting to P98.4 billion. On Thursday, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said the five million beneficiaries who were not included in the initial list for the April emergency subsidies will be prioritized in the second round of the SAP. Apart from the cash assistance, Poe also sought assurance from concerned government agencies that all necessary measures are in place to avoid a spillover of commuters along highways in the face of social distancing measures while they prepare for the resumption of mass transportation. Transportation officials and other implementers should brace for the challenge of “enabling the movement of people without enabling the spread of the virus,” she pointed out. “The influx of commuters at the train stations will unavoidably lead to long queues. Without proper strategy, this can compromise the safety of the public,” she warned. Poe earlier led a hearing on the Department of Transportation’s preparations to ensure order and proper enforcement of safety protocols once public transportation resumes.