aldric de ocampo,
Opinion: The Fare is Fair
Photo credit: Ulap Coquilla
A certain child commutes every day to school.
This child lives in a neighboring city from his school and needs to travel a few hours to make it in time for classes.
On one of the days of his commute, he had an unexpected concern: he did not have enough money to pay for transportation. Since a price hike recently happened, his family, coming from a low socio-economic status, could not give him a sufficient allowance to accommodate his expenses for his travels.
Soon after the ordeal, he realized that going to school only caused more problems for him, and that it only robbed him of valuable time he could’ve spent solving other problems.
He decided to drop out of school and to help his family by working to cope with the problems that he thought were more important than studying.
He was willing to sacrifice his own education to lighten the financial burden of his family.
This is unfortunately a sad reality for many students here in the Philippines.
Sadly, it is no news that many people in the country still suffer from poverty or tread near the poverty line, and that transportation costs serve to add more financial stress on these people.
Luckily, House Bill (HB) 8885 or the “Student Fare Discount Bill” has been approved in the House of Representatives on the third and final reading on February 4.
It aims “to empower students and enable them to pursue education or secure their future thereby helping them to gainful employment” by mandating a 20 percent discount to any Filipino citizen who is enrolled in any elementary, secondary, technical and vocational, or higher education institution on public transportation utilities whether by land, rail, sea, or air.
This means students who present a valid school identification card or a validated enrollment form together with a government-issued ID can avail this service for their trips to school. Not only that, it can also be used on weekends and holidays.
However, as stated in HB 8885, the discount will not be applicable to postgraduate students and those enrolled in informal short-term courses such as dancing, swimming, music, and driving. Also, it prohibits “double discounts” due to promos already provided by the public transportation utilities, other existing laws, or other discount programs or incentives that grant a higher discount for the student availing.
Still, it states that those who would violate this act by not providing the discount or by falsifying their student identification will be penalized accordingly.
At the least, the kind of students within the limitations of this bill can enjoy the perks provided by it with the assurance that there is an adequate service granted to them.
Now it can be asked: how about the operators or the drivers of these public transportation utilities? Is this bill not fair to them?
Don't worry, for the bill addresses this concern.
One of the bill's provisions allow the operators and drivers to receive a tax deduction on their gross income to counterbalance the discount granted to the students in that specific year.
Also, the bill allows the concerned regulatory agencies for the public transportation utilities to grant additional relief or support such as reduction or exemption from regular fees and charges to mitigate the impact of the discount.
In these provisions, we can see that the proponents of the bill did not leave out the other end of the bill's affected population, and that they tried to be fair as much as possible for both sides.
As for the bill itself, the only disadvantage that can come up from it is that there are still costs evaded by the people involved here economically.
Industrial and environmental costs remain the same, and the payment for such is not addressed by this bill. Yet, this is another aspect of the economy that should be tackled by another law, for another day.
As it is, the bill is a very beneficial investment for human capital in the forms of intelligence and labor. It also functions as a long-term solution that can help in providing access for education in our society.
Eventually, this can help in contributing to the goal of providing quality education for all, regardless of whatever background.
As a wake-up call, we should be proactive, aware, and willing to support actions like this by our government in order to fully uphold our responsibility to the society. With laws like this, we can better serve the people by giving them equitable opportunities and inclusive education for a better standard of living not just today, but also for tomorrow. //by Aldric de Ocampo
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