‘For social distancing, guarantee drivers’ pay’

By Samuel P. Medenilla, Businessmirror, 4 Jun 2020

TRANSPORTATION and labor leaders called on the government to give a daily P800 “guaranteed income” for public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers to ensure their compliance with social distancing measures during the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) crisis.

During an online media briefing on Wednesday organized by the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro), National Confederation of Transport Workers’ Union (NCTU) Secretary Jamie Aguilar said the proposal is necessary after they got reports that some PUV drivers violated social distancing measures to get more passengers, especially during rush hours.

The member of the Move as One Coalition said this is expected since the social distancing measures have practically halved the income of PUV drivers.

Under the Department of Transportation (DoTr) guidelines, PUVs in areas, where they are allowed, should only fill up 50 percent of their overall passenger capacity to stop the spread of Covid-19 within their units.

If given the guaranteed income, Aguilar said the drivers can themselves bar passengers from violating the social distancing measures.

Contracted service

The guaranteed income is part of the proposed P110-billion stimulus package for the transportation sectors being pushed by the Move as One Coalition.

Of this amount, P30 billion is proposed to fund government’s service contract with at least 10,000 PUVs to ferry commuters in Metro Manila and other parts of the country for six months.

The proposal has each PUV unit allocated at least P6,075 per day from their proposed contractual arrangement with the government.

The amount cover P1,500 estimated fuel costs; P225 maintenance costs; P750 sanitation costs; P1,600 salary (for two alternating drivers); P1,000 amortization of vehicles; and the P1,000 overhead and profit of the operators.

Joshua Mata said the computation is based on the hypothetical operation of a PUV plying a 20-km round trip route for 15 times daily.

He said they hope the private sector will also hire the remaining 45,000 PUVs, which have their operations affected by the community quarantine, to provide transportation services to their workers.

Lower income

Transportation leaders noted that the P800 guaranteed income is actually lower than the drivers’ average take-home pay ranging from P1,000 to P1,500 for a 13- to 14-hour duty.

However, NCTU President Ernesto Cruz said they are willing to take the income cut especially since the country is now suffering from the Covid-19 crisis.

“Based from the sentiment of our members, they are willing to go back to work rather just wait for aid from the government,” Cruz said.

While some 90,000 PUV drivers were covered by the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) cash aid program, the benefit is only good for two months.

The transportation leaders also noted local government units (LGU) have not committed to provide them additional aid beyond what the received from March to May.