Subsidy season again: Who really gets help?

HERE WE go again. Another fuel subsidy. Another round of ayuda" packaged as relief. The LTFRB says it is ready, beneficiaries validated, systerris in place-everything prepared down to the smallest detail But the bigger question remains unanswered why does the government keep returning to the same band-aid so-lution every time fuel prices rise?

Subsidies may ease the pain but only for a moment. When the cash runs out, the problem stays. Drivers go back to struggling, fares remain contested, and the cycle repeats. This is not reform. This is routine. A short-term fix that quietly avoids confronting the real issue why fuel costs keep hurting the same people over and over again.

And then comes the uncomfortable truth-this help is selective. In Pagadian step outside any college campus and you will see it students on single motor-cycles, spending daily on fuel just to get to school Look at construction workers delivery riders, small earners-they all burn fuel to survive. But they are not in the list. They are not "qualified." They are simply left out

Even more glaring are those in the middle-the small business owners, the self-employed, the ordinary taxpayers. These are the people who consistently pay taxes, keep businesses alive, and carry the economy quietly.

Yet when subsi dies are distributed, they are invisible. No relief. No support Just the expectation to endure. I believe this is where the real injustice lies-not in who receives aid but in who is consistently ignored.

Now there is talk of expanding the subsidy to include more sectors-delivery riders, even "extradors. But that only proves the point: the list will never and Because the problem is not who gets included it's that the system itself is bro-ken. You cannot subsidize your way out of a structural problem

If the government is serious, it must stop managing the symptoms and start fixing the disease. Strengthen public transport. Address fuel pricing. Invest in real alternatives. Build solutions that last. Because at some point, people will stop asking for ayuda-and start asking why nothing ever truly changes.

Philippine People's Press | In Truth We Prevail