Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Executive Director Maria Kristina Cassion said LTFRB will wait for President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.’s administration to start before releasing the next tranche of the fuel subsidy program.

In a Laging Handa briefing on Wednesday, Cassion said that although the agency is ready for the next disbursement of the subsidy program, next steps would still depend on the policies of the incoming administration.

“We do not want to preempt po kasi the incoming administration of President Marcos kung ano po ‘yung kanilang mga programa at polisiya when it comes to the ayuda for the transportation sector [We do not want to preempt the incoming administration of President Marcos on its programs and policies when it comes to the subsidy for the transportation sector],” Cassion said.

Since transportation will be one of the priorities of the Marcos administration, Cassion gave an assurance that the LTFRB is ready to abide by the policies to be mandated by the next administration.

“Rest assured naman po sa naririnig natin kay incoming President Marcos na ‘yung transportation ay isa daw sa mga tututukan ng kanyang administrasyon. And ang LTFRB naman po ay laging handa naman pong tumugon kung ano din po ang i-uutos sa atin [Rest assured that, from what we are hearing from incoming President Marcos, transportation is one of the main focus of his administration. And the LTFRB is always ready to respond to the directives given to us],” she said.

The LTFRB, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government have already completed their lists of beneficiaries.

“If in case po na ire-release nila ‘yung second tranche, wala naman pong pagbabago doon sa mga beneficiaries kasi ito naman po talaga ang registered mga franchise owners sa atin [If in case they will release the second tranche, there will be no changes on the list of beneficiaries because these are already our registered franchise owners],” Cassion said.

When asked about the first tranche, Cassion said that the Landbank of the Philippines has completed the disbursement to 264,000 beneficiaries, while the remaining 50,000 beneficiaries will receive their subsidy within the week.

Cassion noted that the previous fuel subsidy program had a P2.5 billion budget from the General Appropriations Act of 2022 and a total of 300,000 beneficiaries.

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