CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – The proposal from transport groups in Northern Mindanao to raise the minimum fare from seven pesos to P10 is still being studied by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board 10 (LTFRB-10).
LTFRB 10 Regional Director Aminoden Guro said the agency’s central office is still deliberating on this petition.
But he said the group’s proposal may not likely be approved given that minimum fares in regions must not be equal or higher than the fare in the National Capital Region.
“We are still considering the P10 increase but it will not be approved since the minimum in Metro Manila is already P9,” he added.
Guro said the LTFRB may grant an increase of up to P8 since the base fare in Metro Manila is P9.
The proposal came from the National Confederation of Transport Union Region 10 which submitted their petition to the LTFRB for a P10 minimum fare on July 16.
Guro said the fare adjustment formula will follow the board’s latest memorandum circular 2019-035 issued last July which detailed the fare adjustment formula whenever there is an increase in petroleum products.
“The increase in the fare will be dependent on the price adjustment of fuel,” he said.
This means an increase of petroleum products by P3 to P5 per liter would mean an additional P0,50 to P1 in the minimum fare.
But Guro said that even if the fuel goes down, the minimum fare would still remain.
Other transport groups such as Piston has called for a rollback of oil prices, saying expanded value-added tax and TRAIN should be scrapped from oil as it has a chain effect not only on public transport drivers but to all consumers.
(davaotoday.com)
