Noy assures transport sector gov’t will address rising oil prices

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino assured the public yesterday that the government would address concerns over rising oil prices by providing more assistance to the transport and ensuring stable prices of basic commodities.

Aquino said the government is continuously conducting dialogues with transport groups and that measures are being readied to ease their plight.

He cited the plan to promote the use of liquefied petroleum gas for public transport.

Aquino voiced his assurances in an ambush interview after the ceremonial switch-on of the Heart and Soul and Household Electrification Program of the Department of Energy.

He also called on the transport groups to be specific about the measures that had been agreed upon in an earlier meeting but had not been carried out.

Aquino also appealed to the transport groups to cooperate with authorities for the smooth implementation of the Pantawid Pasada Program citing discrepancies in the list of transport groups with franchises. “And then we made various announcements to collect their cards but they never come,” he said. The President said efforts were ongoing to revise the list of those entitled for the subsidy.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, for his part, said the Pantawid Pasada Program was only a cushion “that is not a sustainable one.”

“We have to run the model of what’s the impact on the economy and all that. So I’m also asking, okay, so what’s the best way for government to help them?” Almendras said.

Almendras said Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas II met with the transport groups yesterday and the inputs from the meeting would also be used for the drafting of recommendations.

“Then the President can meet with the transport groups also,” Almendras said.

Roxas yesterday said the DOTC, DOE, and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board are working closely with the University of the Philippines School of Mechanical Engineering regarding fuel efficiency.

Roxas said he had also met with transport groups to discuss the possibility of shifting to the use of alternative sources of energy for jeepneys.

Roxas said that according to the initial studies by the UP School of Mechanical Engineering commissioned by DOE, there will be small savings from the conversion of a diesel engine to LPG.

“Since the engine conversion can cost somewhere around P300,000, the jeepney operators will be hard-pressed to pay this amount if no savings can be realized in the first place,” he said.

Roxas noted that that the conversion of a jeepney to LPG is costlier than a taxi since the latter runs on gasoline, and only needs installation of a conversion kit.

“I think the transport group leaders understand this. We will not rush into alternative fuels. It has to make sense in terms of fuel economy,” he added. –Aurea Calica, and Czeriza Valencia (The Philippine Star)