DOLE, DOTR GRANT P1-M LIVELIHOOD ASSISTANCE TO BACOLOD TRANSPORT COOPERATIVE

The assistance given through the EnTsuperneur Program will be used for a rice retailing business to provide an alternative income source to drivers and operators who will be most affected by the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).

DOLE-Negros Occidental Head Carmela Abellar, together with Undersecretary Ramon Lee Cualoping III,
director general of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), and Assistant Secretary Katherine Chloe de Castro, deputy director general and concurrent officer in charge of PIA 6 (Western Visayas), granted the amount to Romelie Soliguen, chairperson of UNETCO, on March 22, 2023. This coincided with PIA’s pilot
conduct of “Hinun-anon (to talk about or exchange views on a subject matter),” an information campaign event of the agency that provides an avenue for the government and stakeholders to discuss government programs. “This will help our displaced drivers, conductors, and operators. They are those whose livelihood have been affected,” Soliguen stated.

Within UNETCO are three major transport federations in Bacolod—United Negros Drivers and Operators Center, Federation of Bacolod Drivers Association, and Sentrong Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Negros Occidental. According to Soliguen, they have awarded a total of 293 units of modern jeepneys to six out of the 24 routes in the city. The first batch to ply the city streets is composed of 97 units approved under a loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines; 23 units of those are still yet to be delivered in the following week. EnTsuperneur Program is a joint project of DOTr and DOLE that aims to provide those affected by PUVMP with financial security outside the transportation industry.