(Bulatlat) MANILA – For a 52-year-old jeepney driver, the incessant oil price hikes may force them to stop operating. Worse, it will keep them from putting food on their table.

“For jeepney drivers with a large family, we can’t afford to sustain our family’s needs. Since the pandemic started, I barely even hand them money,” Resti Rocafort told Bulatlat in an interview.

For the past 15 years, Rocafort has been plying the Guadalupe to L.Guinto route, which covers the cities of Manila and Makati. In the past few months, however, more than two thirds of Rocafort’s income goes to his fuel and a daily boundary* of $5. And with the incessant price hikes of oil and other staples, Rocafort can only bring home about $4 a day.