Manila
An American official of Uber came to Manila to rescue 66,000 Filipino drivers who were suspended on the road for violating accreditation requirements imposed on all public transport operators.
“If there has been a misunderstanding in the past, that’s all on us and I apologise for the misunderstanding,” Mike Brown, Uber’s regional manager for South East Asia, told Martin Delgra, chairperson of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) in a meeting on Wednesday.
“Anything you need from us, we’re gonna give,” said Brown who flew from Singapore to revive Uber’s supremacy on Philippine roads. In less than three years, the US-based Uber has become the second-largest company that offers online private taxi booking services in the Philippines.
“We’re trying to work together here to address public transportation issues,” LTFRB chair Delgra also said. Brown led Uber officials in a meeting with LTFRB officials and Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Senate public services committee.
Earlier, Uber and LTFRB were engaged in relentless word-war. Uber gave a controversial statement — its ‘fight’ with the Philippine government is still ongoing — after the Senate and the House of Representatives started heated investigations on the operations of Uber and its rival, Grab, over alleged unfair practices in the Philippines.
The Uber and Grab-culture have delighted many taxi-riders specially among Metro Manila’s 13 million commuters. Both have been blamed for Metro Manila’s horrendous traffic jam.
On August 14, 2017, LTFRB suspended Uber operations for one month, saying Uber did not stop accrediting drivers into their systems starting July 26, 2017. LTFRB claimed Uber has been accepting new peer-drivers and giving them false idea that they could work as public transport vehicle without having to apply for necessary permits from the government.
Uber’s actions were “challenging the limit of fair regulation and compromising sound business practices,” LTFRB argued, adding the US-based company must give financial assistance to peer-operators who have suffered because of Uber’s ”predatory actions”.
Uber, on the other hand, has argued the LTFRB has only been accepting but not processing the applications of Uber private partners.
LTFRB has approved Uber’s accreditation to operate on August 19, 2015, following an application processed on August 17 of the same year.
At the time, LTFRB reminded Uber’s private partners to file for their respective application for Franchise for Transportation Network Vehicle Service (TNVS). Private Uber drivers were to pay a 520 Philippine pesos (Dh37.46) filing fee before securing franchise.
The LTFRB issued guidelines to ride-sharing providers in May 2015, and gave service providers deadline to comply on August 21, 2015. Otherwise they would be fined 200,000 pesos and their cars impounded for three months.
