Transport cooperatives in the Northern Mindanao Region have welcomed assistance from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) in the form of sanitation kits that arrived here recently.
In an interview Tuesday, Luzminda Lalaine Escobidal, manager of the PN Roa Canitoan Transport Cooperative (Ponstransco), said the hygiene packages given by the DOTr were a big help as they needed these for the safety of drivers and passengers.
Inside the 1,141 boxes that arrived from the DOTr central office were three gallons of sanitizers, a galloon of alcohol, face masks, and face shields.
Escobidal said the kits were handed to them and other transport cooperatives this week and will go on for the next few weeks.
She said the kits would be helpful to their cooperative’s operation.
“We consume one gallon of alcohol per day. Remember that is PHP500 (per gallon). We’ll be saving a few hundred pesos in expenses because of this,” Escobidal said.
She said they will use the sanitizers to disinfect their fleet of vehicles, their drivers, and their passengers as well.
“We have to disinfect as our units are PUVMP (Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program)-compliant, meaning, they are airconditioned,” Escobidal said.
At present, Pontransco has 15 modernized Euro five-grade public utility vehicles plying the PN Roa and Canitoan routes, with 39 drivers.
Escobidal said they are also the first transport cooperative in the country to use the “tap card” technology for their fare collection.
Because of this technology, Pontransco does not need conductors to collect fares from passengers.
Ian Ragragio, supervising cooperative development specialist of the Office of Transportation Cooperatives (OTC), said the Northern Mindanao and Caraga Regions were the last stop of the distribution of the hygiene packages.
He said the project cost some PHP40 million.
Ragragio said the giving of the sanitation kits started in the National Capital Region and Luzon in December last year, adding that the distribution was delayed as DOTr had to comply with all the bidding requirements before a purchase was made.
The OTC official, however, assured the public that the assistance will not be the last as the agency is working out ways to extend help to public utility drivers and operators who are gravely affected by the pandemic.
“This is just the beginning. Other forms of assistance will be given out soon,” he added.
For his part, Aminoden Guro, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board – Northern Mindanao (LTFRB-10) director, said the beneficiaries of the hygiene packages number more than 40 transport cooperatives accredited with the OTC.
Both OTC and LTFRB are under the DOTr.
Currently, Guro said public utility vehicles, especially jeepneys and modernized fleets, are allowed to have a 70-percent capacity.
“The DOTr requested for a 100 percent capacity but the Inter-Agency Task Force only allowed 70 percent,” he said.
Guro said the DOTr is also set to release a PHP2.5-billion fuel subsidy for drivers and operators as a means to help them cope with the rising oil prices and lesser income due to the pandemic. (PNA)
