DOTr wants Congress to give ‘Libreng Sakay’ more funds to operate in 2023
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation has called on Congress to allocate more funds to sustain its subsidized rides along the EDSA Busway Carousel, which are only set to continue until December of this year.
As it currently stands, the National Expenditure Program for 2023, the basis of the proposed national budget, does not include funding for the Service Contracting program of the Department of Transportation.
Speaking before the House Committee on Transportation, Transportation Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Mark Steven Pastor disclosed that the DOTr had already requested some P12 billion to keep the service contracting program running for 2023.
"We are appealing that the service contracting program be funded so that next year the Libreng Sakay program can continue...it was not included in the NEP," he said in mixed Filipino and English.
The Move as One transport coalition has taken the position that the Libreng Sakay program "was expensive, short-lived, and resulted in a reduction of PUV supply in routes where its coverage was partial."
Funding has always been among the principal concerns of the Libreng Sakay program, which past transport officials said spends around the ballpark of P10 million per day on the EDSA Carousel.
In a statement responding to calls for funding, the Department of Budget and Management said that funding for service contracting would really have to come from Congress because it is not a regular item in the budget.
“The SCP is a non-recurring or one-time expenditure item. It is not a regular program. Hence, similar to previous years, no funds were allocated for it under the 2023 NEP,” the DBM said.
“This year, it was intended to mitigate the impact of the fuel surge. We expect oil prices to stabilize next year,” it also said, pointing out that the original service contracting was a pandemic measure implemented to assist road sector workers who were hit by the quarantines.
Though free rides on the EDSA Carousel has been a financial crutch for commuters amid the fuel crisis, commuter groups have sounded the alarm on the long lines forcing commuters to wait hours just to get a free ride.
In an earlier interview, transport economist Robert Siy said that while fully subsidizing free rides via Libreng Sakay does benefit commuters, increasing transport capacity should be a more immediate need than alleviating transport costs amid the fuel crisis.
"In the experience of the EDSA Busway, we need to also look at the potential of expanding dedicated lanes for public transport to other routes, and to other major corridors," he told Philstar.com.
"We believe that Service Contracting is best implemented to partially subsidize public transportation and still allow transport cooperatives and corporations to collect fares. This scheme will expand the reach of the program and will sustain public transport operations longer than a Libreng Sakay scheme and is a critical support to our transport workers."
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