Photo Release

On the P5.5 billion budget for displaced public utility drivers and operators: Sen. Grace Poe, chairperson of the Committee on Public Services, asks the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) if the allocated P5.5 billion budget for the displaced public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers and operators under the Bayanihan 2 has already been transferred to the Department of Transportation (DOTr). Poe, during the continuation of the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) briefing on the proposed 2022 National Expenditure Program (NEP) Thursday, September 9, 2021, said she got information that only P1.5 billion from the P5.5 billion has so far been disbursed, and out of the P1.5 billion, only P653 million made it to the hands of PUV drivers. “So I have to ask, there is about P3 billion pending that will expire soon, do we have updates on that?” Poe asked. DBM Usec. Tina Rose Marie Canda said the budget has already been released to the DOTr and it is the agency that is now in charge of giving it to the displaced workers in the transport sector. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)