A GROUP of food delivery riders decried the absence of government subsidies for their sector amid the exponential rise in oil prices, saying the situation has already left them overworked just to make ends meet.
“Ang mga riders po, until now, particularly ang food delivery riders, hindi po nakakatanggap ng anumang ayuda from the government. Kaya sana po, as soon as possible, mabigyan na po kami. Kasi antagal na po ito, almost two months na po,” Lemmuel Cabantog of the National Union of Food Delivery Riders said in a press conference.
He added: “Marami po sa amin, nahihirapan na po magtrabaho dahil sa taas ng fuel prices. Doble po ang tinaas nito eh. Before, pag nagpa-full tank kami, P250. Ngayon, nasa P500. Doble po. Ang nangyayari po ngayon, para makuha namin yung panggastos namin, pangkain namin, ng aming pamilya, kailangan namin doblehin din yung oras inilalaan sa hanapbuhay.”
Cabantog said that from working for eight to 10 hours a day, they are now forced to work as much as 16 hours.
“Ngayon, umaabot na po kami ng 16 hours, halos doble. Iyon po ay sapat na para sa aming pamilya, maintenance ng motorsiklo, mobile phone load na kailangan namin para makipag-communicate kami sa mga customers. Apektadong-apektado po kami at nakakalungkot po na up to now, ang mga food delivery riders po ay wala pa pong natatanggap na ayuda from the government,” Cabantog pointed out.
He added that while it is the task of the platform or the firm where they serve as independent contractors to submit the list of qualified food delivery riders to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the payout, they have yet to hear from the platform if their names have already been submitted.
Wealth tax
As such, Cabantog said they are joining Akbayan party-list’s Rep. Perci Cendaña in pushing for the imposition of a wealth tax under House Bill 4304 of the Solidarity Contribution Act.
The measure imposes a wealth tax rate of 1.5% up to 3% on individuals whose net worth exceed P300 million.
Likewise, the bill mandates that the tax revenue raised from the proposal, estimated to reach P78 billion from the top 15 richest Filipinos on the Forbes list alone, would be used on specific items such as climate change adaptation, universal healthcare, quick response fund, among others.
“Kami po ay 100% na sumusuporta sa wealth tax nito dahil sa totoo lang po, kami po nagpapayaman sa mga kompanyang to. Kami po ang dahilan kung bakit sila mayaman at maalwal sa buhay kahit may mga crisis pa na nangyayari sa ating bansa. Hindi sila apektado sa krisis dahil sa yaman na binibigay namin sa kanila,” Cabantog said.
“Kaya nararapat lamang na sila mag-ambag din ng malaki para naman sa amin,” Cabantog added.
Caren Martinez of the Small Entrepreneur for Livelihood Development Association in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan backed Cabantog’s call, saying that paying the wealth tax won’t burden the rich to begin with. (GMA News)
