The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) would like the contract service program (CSP for the maritime sector become a regular allocation under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) to ensure continuity of the fare subsidy for ship operators and sea travelers.
MARINA Administrator Sonia B. Malaluan said during the official launch of the CSP in Batangas the agency has already made representation with Congress to regularize the fare subsidy program in the GAA.
MARINA has also requested Congress to include the maritime sector in the CSP program in the proposed Kalinga Bill. “But we will leave that to the wisdom of the legislators,” she said.
Administrator Malaluan noted that MARINA has no funds for fare subsidy and they have no power over fund allocation for this kind of subsidy in their regular fund.
The Kalinga Bill or Komprehensibong Alalay sa Livelihood, Inflation, Negosyo at Goods Assistance is a proposed national crisis-response framework. The proposed bill seeks to automatically trigger targeted government subsidies and interventions during extraordinary fuel price increases, supply disruptions, and inflation spikes.
The House of Representatives already passed the Kalinga Bill on second reading.
