MANILA — The national government's fuel subsidy program for public utility vehicles will continue as long as people need it, Malacañang said Thursday.
The Palace gave the statement after announcing the subsidy will be increased to P12 per liter from P10 per liter, which means that each qualified driver may save as much as P7,200 every month on fuel expenses.
“Hanggat kailangan ng tulong ng ating mga kababayan ay magtutuloy. Sa ngayon ay hindi pa naipapakita kung gaano katagal,” Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a Palace press briefing.
(As long as our people need help, it will continue. For now, we cannot say for how long that will be.)
The program, launched in April, has for now been extended to the end of August.
It will be up to the Department of Transportation to discuss the fine print of the program, and to explain why the government was unable to implement a P20 per liter subsidy as recommended by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, Castro also said.
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The Palace also vowed to review complaints on the lack of partner gasoline stations and other issues in the program's implementation.
The Marcos Jr. administration implemented a fuel subsidy program earlier this year after the war that the US and Israel started with Iran choked global oil supply chains and led to a steep spike in pump prices in the Philippines.
The program is part of the administration’s focus on providing aid to marginalized Filipinos, but several groups have criticized the government’s response to the oil crisis. They said it has focused only on certain sectors.