Angkas has foreign ownership issues – TWG

MANILA, Philippines — As the government and motorcycle-taxi firms continue to lock horns, the interagency technical working group (TWG) has claimed app-based firm Angkas has not met foreign ownership provisions for transportation carriers.

The TWG said it only granted Angkas the “privilege” to provisionally operate as the company had not met the 60-40 percent foreign equity requirement provided for in the Constitution.

“It bears repeating, and emphasizing, that Angkas is merely operating on the basis of the motorcycle taxi pilot study, a privilege being accorded by the TWG, notwithstanding the legal issues hounding Angkas and its attempt to circumvent existing transport laws, to carry out its business,” the TWG said in a statement.

The Constitution limits foreign ownership for public utilities, including transportation, to 40 percent and reserves 60 percent to Filipino citizens or corporations.

Citing records from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Angkas is supposedly owned 99.996 percent by Singaporean Angeline Tham.

Tham was a former executive of transport network company (TNC) Grab’s own motorcycle-taxi service before it was shut down. She then founded Angkas in 2016.

Indonesian ride-hailing service GoJek was earlier rejected by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board over the same issue of ownership.

Aside from ownership issues, the TWG said that Angkas committed other violations such as operating outside designated areas in the pilot run, collection of surge fees, as well as safety breaches like non-wearing of authorized safety gear.

The TWG defended itself and said it was dealing fairly with the players in the pilot run to best reflect the needs of the commuters and how it can be a viable public transportion alternative.

This comes as a supposed commuter group alleged corruption on the part of the TWG as it questioned its authority to issue policies on the pilot run.

The TWG went on the defense and cited its authority granted by the government, under the Department of Transportation, to oversee the pilot implementation program of motorcycle taxis.

The word war between the government and Angkas began when the TWG issued new guidelines for the extended pilot run.

It imposed a 10,000 rider cap for players who will take part in the run, including Angkas and newcomers MoveIt and JoyRide.

Urgent TNVS House bill

Meanwhile, due to the successful pilot operation of Angkas, Samar Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento, chairman of the House committee on transportation, vowed to soon take up legislation that will effectively amend the decades-old Land Transportation Traffic Code (RA 4136) allowing only four-wheeled PUVs.

Reps. Alfredo Garbin and Bernadette Herrera of party-list groups Ako Bicol and Bagong Henerasyon, respectively, underscored the need to prioritize the bills on Transport Network Vehicles Service (TNVS) and TNCs.

Among the pending measures are House Bill 5748, or the TNVS/TNC Regulation Fare Rates Act of 2019, of Deputy Speaker Evelina Escudero of Sorsogon, while other bills include HBs 1260, 1538, 3690, 4024 and 4725 currently pending in the Sarmiento committee.

Herrera observed that the transportation sector is “slow to keep up with the fast-changing times because the laws governing this sector are old and now are largely useless.”

“I will appeal to the House leadership to certify this bill as urgent,” she added.

“Given that at least 100,000 Filipinos will be directly affected and hundreds of thousands of commuters will be served by Angkas and other TNVS-TNCs, I believe that it is a great reason for Congress to approve the bill before the summer recess,” Herrera stressed. – With Delon Porcalla