PCC urged: Probe LTFRB cap vs Angkas

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) should investigate the latest regulation of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on motorcycle ride-hailing app Angkas, a House of Representatives official said yesterday.

Deputy Majority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera lauded PCC Commissioner Johannes Bernabe for cautioning the LTFRB on the agency’s move to displace Angkas’ 17,000 riders.

The government’s interagency technical working group (TWG), headed by LTFRB member Antonio Gardiola, allowed two new players – Move It and JoyRide – to join the extended pilot testing of motorcycles as a mode of public transportation.

Gardiola said the move aims to ensure that the ride-hailing industry would not be monopolized by Angkas.  

The TWG, however, limited the number of riders to 10,000 each for Angkas, JoyRide and Move It in Metro Manila and 3,000 each in Metro Cebu.

Prior to the extension, Angkas said it had 27,000 riders.

“PCC is the agency vested by law Congress passed to decide on monopoly issues. LTFRB must tread carefully this path it is taking against Angkas,” Herrera said in a statement.

Herrera also reiterated her call for the PCC to intervene in the matter and investigate the LTFRB regulation. 

She cited Republic Act 10667 (Philippine Competition Act), which gives the PCC quasi-judicial powers of “original and primary jurisdiction in the enforcement and regulation of all competition-related issues.” 

“Simply put, LTFRB can and should only add more (transport network vehicle service) bikers and transport network companies. The new TNCs have to prove themselves first. LTFRB should learn and accept the fact that land transport regulation is no longer its shared domain with LTO. The PCC is part of the bigger picture since 2015 as Congress made it happen via RA 10667,” Herrera said.

Meanwhile, the group Riders of the Philippines (ROTP) yesterday opposed the displacement of 17,000 Angkas bikers, saying this will affect their livelihood.

Roberto Perillo, president of the Bulacan Motorcycle Riders Confederation and one of the ROTP’s core convenors, appealed to President Duterte “not to bring us back the time when we resorted to illegal and informal ways to earn money,” referring to “habal-habal” operations.

He said prior to joining Angkas, many riders either offered illegal transport services or were in the “formal sub-sector of the services industry, as employees in offices and factories, or in trading and delivery services.”