THE National Government’s Libreng Sakay program is expected to resume in Central Visayas not later than the first week of April this year.This was what Eduardo Montealto Jr., director of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB 7), told SunStar Cebu on Friday, March 11, 2022.Montealto said about P7 billion is set to be allocated nationwide for the third phase of the Libreng Sakay program, which is supposed to resume this month.But he said the resumption of free rides, particularly for the healthcare workers (HCWs) and authorized persons outside residence (Apor), would depend on when this budget would be downloaded from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the Department of Transportation (DOTr).Apart from that, Montealto said the DOTr is currently focused on the release of subsidies for drivers and operators of public utility vehicles (PUVs) in the country.Montealto, however, expressed his hopes that the Libreng Sakay program will resume by either last week of March or first week of April.With the budget for this round much bigger than the P3 billion budget during the second phase of the program last year, Montealto said the coverage for the Libreng Sakay would also be expanded.They are also planning to hire more job order employees to fast-track the processing of payments to the operators who will join the program.It can be recalled that there were complaints on delayed payouts during the first phase of the program.Montealto, however, clarified that all those who joined the previous rounds of Libreng Sakay were already paid.During the implementation of Libreng Sakay’s second phase on Sept. 16 to Oct. 30, a total of 484 PUV units were deployed in the region to cater to the transportation needs of HCWs and Apor from the P356 million budget allocation.Montealto said the same operators and number of PUV units under the LTFRB are expected to join the program this year.Just like in the first and second rounds of the implementation, buses will be paid P82.50 per kilometer while modernized jeepneys and other public utility jeepneys (PUJs) will be paid P52.50 per kilometer.Montealto said the allocation per region would depend on how big its coverage is.