Since the onset of the dry season, the weather bureau has been issuing warnings about rising temperatures and danger-level heat indices across the country. The Department of Health has also been warning the public about the risk of heat stroke.
Yet the government itself has been exposing thousands of people to that risk in its messy, hurried rollout of fuel subsidies to mass transport drivers, operators and riders, in lieu of cutting taxes on diesel and gasoline.
Beneficiaries themselves of the P5,000 fuel dole-out have complained about losing their earnings for half or even an entire day, to wait in long lines to get their subsidy.
Worse, the waiting has been done under the sun, with no shade available and not enough seats provided.
Last Saturday, a motorcycle taxi rider died while waiting for his subsidy in such a long line at the Quezon Memorial Circle. His brother said the likely cause was a heart attack.
In Caloocan City, motorcycle taxi and delivery riders began lining up for their ayuda as early as 1:30 a.m. on Sunday. Images showed some of the riders resting on mats on the sidewalk during the night.
ALTODAP president Melencio Vargas echoed a common complaint among the subsidy beneficiaries: they were being treated like beggars.
Several beneficiaries lamented that such discourtesy and maltreatment would be unlikely at mass gatherings of people from the middle or upper income groups.
In the age of artificial intelligence and e-wallets, when even children own smartphones, how can aid payouts be so inefficient?
The Department of Social Welfare and Development cited the lack of master lists and centralized databases for determining the qualified subsidy beneficiaries, thus necessitating the personal presence of those applying for the aid. So much for e-governance.
But there must also be non-digital ways of making aid distribution systematic. Specific waiting hours can be set or areas designated for processing the aid of beneficiaries, for example, based on the first letters of their surnames.
The mass transport sector is suffering enough in this national energy emergency without the distribution of the fuel subsidy becoming a human rights violation and aggravating misery.