A group of taxi operators on Panay Island is seeking a higher flag down rate amid the soaring prices of petroleum products.
Perfecto Yap, Association of Taxi Operators in Panay (ATOP) president, said they filed a petition for a P10 increase in the flag down rate of taxi units.
The petition was filed before the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB-6) on Wednesday, March 2.
Yap said the series of oil price increases added to the burden of taxi drivers and operators who are already reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to him, some 2,000 taxi units in Panay stopped operating and several drivers looked for alternative livelihood.
Meanwhile, the Western Visayas Transport Cooperative (WVTC) sought the intervention of the Department of Energy (DOE) to suspend the 12-percent value added tax and excise taxes on oil products.
WVTC chairman Raymundo G. Parcon, in his letter to DOE Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi, said the The successive increase in oil prices turned public transport drivers into “zoombies.”
“They keep moving yet they don’t know where they are going, what will happen next. They live in an environment of uncertainties, for they do not know what awaits the as they wake up in the next morning,” he said.
“We are asking for an immediate response of our government to protect us in this time of crises and uncertainties,” Parcon added.
Last week, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas requested the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) to pass a resolution favorably endorsing Parcon’s communication to Cusi.
“As the father of the city I am one with the transport sector in their plight of thriving during this health crisis, finding means of livelihood for their families,” he said.IMT
