NFA eyes giving them rice, but Subsidy for drivers not in summit plans

There won't be cash, but there might be rice.

Ambassador Marciano Paynor, Secretary General of the National Organizing Committee of the 12th ASEAN Summit yesterday said they have not considered giving cash subsidy to the public transport drivers affected by the traffic rerouting and closure.

"We have not really considered that because in our planning, we did not expect this," he said, referring to the request of the drivers for P3 million subsidy during the summit.

But, Paynor said, they are trying to mitigate the impact of the closure of some routes and in fact, the National Food Authority (NFA) has considered giving sacks of rice and other forms of subsidy to the affected drivers.

There are no concrete plans yet as to how the rice subsidy shall be distributed.

According to him, the affected drivers are private, but "at least we are trying to mitigate the circumstances."

"This is the first time that this is happening and we don't know how to do that," Paynor said.

Antonio Pogado, chairman of the Nagkahiusang Drayber sa Sugbo (NADSU), on the other hand, said that the NOC should have included them in their planning, because since the start, it was already a fact that some routes would be closed and drivers would be affected.

"Ila gitan-aw ang CICC og summit lang. Kung magkaguliyang, moingon siya (Paynor) nga wala siya ideya sa transport? Dili siya moingon nga wala ni apil sa plano kay naa man ani ni sa rerouting" Pogado said.

According to Pogado, during the dry run last December 1, an estimated 30 to 40 percent of the drivers were not able to ply their routes because the roads were closed.

"Kato pag Friday, sila mismo kakita unsa ang epekto sa rerouting sa mga drayber. Nakita nila unsa kadako sa epekto namo. Katong direkta nga magutom sa panahon sa summit, kinsa manubag?"

Pogado said that while they welcome the plan of the NFA to supply the drivers rice, he insisted that they would need the financial assistance to support their families during the duration of the summit.

"Tanan ta naningkamot nga magmalinawon ang summit pero kung kagutom na dili ta kapugong sa mga drayber sa ilang kasuko," he said.

In a press conference two days ago, NADSU declared that they are seeking P3 million subsidy from the government to help them make up for their lost income during the summit.

Drivers also said that if the NOC refused to consider their request, they might be forced to join the protest rallies to be conducted by militant groups.

Meanwhile, another group of drivers, the Alayansa sa Nakahiusang Drayber Alang sa Reportma (ANDAR) beleives that the demand of NADSU is "impossible." Armand de Gracia, president of the 2,000-strong ANDAR, said they'd welcome cash subsidy, but believes there is not enough time to make it happen.

The P3 million subsidy is based on the demand of NADSU that they be given P1,000 a day subsidy per PUJ unit. Of the P1,000 the P300 will go to the drivers while the P700 will go to the operators.

Aside from the PUJ drivers, tricycle drivers and operators in Mandaue City are also demanding for a daily subsidy of P500 per unit. - Wenna A. Berondo with Ramil V. Ayuman(/NLQ)