THE TRICYCLE Alliance of Davao City (TADC) is sounding a final, desperate alarm as gasoline prices in the city have officially surged into the ₱96.00 to ₱100.00 per liter range. While fuel costs have skyrocketed, Davao’s 15,000 tricycle drivers remain shackled to a 6-year-old ₱10.00 minimum fare, a rate that TADC leaders now call “mathematically impossible and humanly cruel.”
A mathematical death spiral
For over a month, the tricycle sector has absorbed weekly price hikes with zero government relief. With gasoline now touching ₱100.00 per liter, a typical driver in Bangkerohan, Matina, Agdao, Buhangin, Sasa, Toril, or Calinan spends nearly 70% of their gross daily earnings just to fill their tank.
“We have reached the breaking point. At ₱100 per liter, a ₱10 fare is no longer a service; it is a slow death for the driver’s family,” says TADC Representative Michael Ibañez. “Our drivers are taking home less than ₱300 a day. In a city where the minimum wage is ₱525, this is a humanitarian crisis unfolding on our streets.”
The nation’s most neglected sector
TADC highlights that Davao City currently holds the record for the lowest tricycle fare in the Philippines despite having some of the highest fuel costs in Mindanao. While neighboring cities have adjusted to ₱15 or ₱20 long before the fuel crisis, Davao’s “First-and-Last Mile” workers have been ignored for over 2,000 days.
“We are the essential bridge that brings Davaoeños to their doorsteps, yet we are the most marginalized,” Ibanez added.
“The National Government has excluded the majority of us from the DSWD AICS and DOE Fuel Subsidies, and our own City Government’s ‘Legislative Lag’ is leaving us to starve while they deliberate.”
Demand for immediate executive action
The Alliance is formally calling on Mayor Sebastian “Basti” Duterte to bypass the months-long legislative process and sign an Emergency Executive Order (EO) today to:
1. Authorize a ₱20.00 Provisional Minimum Fare to provide an immediate lifeline to drivers.
2. Adopt the Automatic Fare Adjustment Index (AFAI) to ensure fares rise and automatically fall based on the ₱90–₱105 fuel brackets.
A final plea to City Hall
The TADC warns that without an immediate provisional increase, a spontaneous “paralysis of transport” is inevitable as drivers simply can no longer afford to start their engines.
“We appeal to Mayor Basti’s heart: Look at the gas pumps. It is ₱100 per liter. We cannot wait for another committee hearing. Our children need to eat today. Sign the EO now.”
CONTACT:
Michael Ibanez
Representative, TADC
Email: michaelmacasibanez@gmail.com
Mobile: 0926-365-8845
