Starting Monday, 13 April 2020, additional fuel subsidies will be provided to bus units participating in the Free Ride for Health Workers Program of the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
This, after Seaoil Philippines has pledged to provide, until 30 April 2020, free fuel worth PhP 405,000 to bus units ferrying medical frontliners under the DOTr’s free shuttle service.
The DOTr has announced that 15 bus units participating in the program can avail of up to 50 liters of free fuel daily, which translates to Php 22,500 per day or a total of 13,500 liters amounting to P405,000.
“We are very grateful to Seaoil Philippines for providing fuel subsidies to the bus units of our free ride program. Malaking tulong po ito, hindi lang para sa amin, o sa mga bus, kundi makasisiguro rin tayo na maitataguyod natin ang serbisyo publiko para sa mga medical frontliners sa gitna ng COVID-19 pandemic,” DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade expressed.
To recall, DOTr earlier partnered with Phoenix Petroleum, Petron Corporation, CleanFuel, and Total Philippines for fuel subsidies for bus units participating in the free ride program for medical frontliners.
Phoenix Petroleum has agreed to provide 50 liters of fuel daily to sixty (60) private bus units participating in the free ride program.
Meanwhile, the Petron fuel subsidy, which was made possible through the donation of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) Infrastructure, will give sixty (60) bus units an allocation of 50 liters of fuel each day.
CleanFuel will also provide 40 liters of fuel for 20 bus units for free, while Total has allocated free fuel subsidies to 30 participating bus units at PhP1,000 per unit, or vehicles driven by medical frontliners at PhP300 per unit until 17 April 2020.
The free ride for healthworkers program covers medical communities in the National Capital Region (NCR), as well as in regions 1, 2, 3, 4-A, 4-B, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, CAR, and CARAGA.
As of 09 April 2020, the free ride program already transported 35,873 health workers residing in NCR, and 87,702 from other regions, for a total of 123,575 medical workers.