THE Commission on Elections (Comelec), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) issued a warning to politicians who will be found meddling in the distribution process of the fuel subsidy amid the ongoing campaign period for the national and local elections.
The warning was issued in a press conference held in Camp Crame in relation to the preparations related to security during the elections.
According to Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez, he warned politicians from trying to use the fuel subsidy distribution in their campaign because they will face charges in court.
He said there are groups authorized to distribute the fuel subsidy to tricycle operators and drivers and not politicians.
DILG Secretary Eduardo Año mentioned that around 1.2 million tricycle operators and drivers will receive the fuel subsidy based on the list provided by local government units (LGUs) nationwide.
The list of beneficiaries will then submit it to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the LTFRB itself will lead in the distribution of the fuel subsidy to the beneficiaries because the money is with them.
Currently, half of the total number of beneficiaries have been submitted to the LTFRB while the agency is still waiting for the list coming from other LGUs.
On the part of the PNP, the police assured that they will guard the distribution process of the fuel subsidy to make sure that the process will not be used by politicians for their campaign.