In a hearing earlier today, the Technical Working Group of the Committee on Transportation expressed their intent to suspend the operation of app-based transportation services like Uber and GrabCar over some legalities and the lack of accreditation from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
Spearheaded by 2nd district of Batangas Representative and Technical Working Group (TWG) Chairman Raneo Abu, TWG insists that cars which belong to the GrabCar and Uber pool are considered as ‘colorum’ vehicles because they operate without proper accreditation from LTFRB.
The Congressman also questioned some of the provisions of the memorandum of agreement between LTFRB and app-based transportation services, particularly the guideline that allows LTFRB to delegate the task of accrediting drivers to Transportation Network Services.
In line with this, Congressman Abu reiterated that the Congress still has the authority over issuing of franchise and that LTFRB was just tasked to implement it on its behalf. Therefore, the agency is not allowed to pass the accreditation to companies like Uber.
Concerns over passenger safety and payment of tax were also raised during the hearing. The Committee on Transportation claims that it wasn’t specified who would shoulder the tax and how these companies (or operator) will be reprimanded if something wrong happens to the passenger.
Just when we thought that companies like Uber will officially be allowed to operate in the country after getting a nod from LTFRB, it seems that they still have another hurdle to overcome before it’s all said and done.
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