Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. Antonio Tinio slammed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for suspending the P1 fare increase for jeepneys, calling it a publicity stunt that only deepened public anger amid soaring fuel costs.
Visiting strike centers during the nationwide transport protest, Tinio said the administration’s “paayuda-ayuda” approach has failed to address the crushing conditions faced by drivers.
“From P1,050 daily take-home pay when diesel was P60 per liter, drivers now bring home only P250 despite five round trips a day. This is no longer livelihood—it is strangulation,” he said.
Tinio expressed full support for the strike, stressing that Marcos has “declared war on the transport sector” by suspending even the “measly peso” fare hike. “He tried to score PR points, but instead exposed the absence of real solutions,” Tinio added.
Operators along the Agoncillo–Guadalupe route reported fuel costs of about P400 per trip while boundaries remain at P700, leaving drivers operating at a loss. Unconsolidated units also face registration hurdles, risk being tagged as “colorum,” and are pressured into cooperatives.
The lawmaker criticized the delayed and inadequate aid coursed through operators, noting that the P5,000 assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development covers only two days of fuel expenses.
“Ang pangako nilang ayuda, huli na at kapos pa—aanhin pa ang damo kapag patay na ang kabayo,” Tinio said.
He urged government and Congress to heed transport sector demands: scrap excise tax and VAT on oil, stop cartel profiteering enabled by deregulation, repeal the Oil Deregulation Law, and provide substantial aid directly to drivers. “What drivers and commuters need is real price relief—not press releases and stopgap measures,” Tinio said.# (ZIA LUNA)
