Despite getting heavily criticized by lawmakers during the Senate hearing on Monday, Jan. 20, the Technical Working Group (TWG) on motorcycle taxis appears firm on its position to terminate its pilot test and apprehend riders from motorcycle-riding apps.
A Mandaluyong City RTC has denied the petition filed “Angkas” for another TRO on the issuance of a permanent injunction on the implementation of the revised guidelines for the pilot implementation of motorcycle taxis.
The trial run will involve over 180 GrabCar vehicles, of which half will be equipped with in-car cameras and the rest with audio-recording capabilities.
This after Angkas filed a petition before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court asking for the issuance of a temporary restraining order against the imposition of a cap on the number of participating riders in the government's pilot run on the use of motorcycles as taxis, and the apprehension of "excess riders" as stated in the program's revised guidelines.
The Technical Working Group in charge of the motorcycle taxi pilot run said Angkas may be disqualified from operating because of numerous infractions such as operating outside of Metro Manila and charging surge rates.
Motorcycle taxi app “Angkas” has secured a 72-hour Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the government policy of limiting the number of Angkas bikers to 10,000 in Manila and 3,000 in Cebu.
The Technical Working Group (TWG) on Motorcycle (MC) Taxis said records from the SEC shows Angkas is 99.996% owned by Angeline Xiwen Tham, a Singaporean, with P9.8 million in subscribed shares. Tham is also listed at the SEC as the president of the corporation.
Bagong Henerasyon party-list representative Bernadette Herrera said the PCC can act on its own (motu proprio) without need for a petition to take cognizance of the decision of the competition policies of LTFRB, including the new decisions on Angkas and two entering market players.
Grab Philippines has temporarily reduced its surge pricing cap from 2x to 1.7x after LTFRB officials met with TNVS companies to address the mounting consumers' complaints on the issues of lack of availability and overcharging. The reduction will be in effect only until December 24.
