{"id":242685,"date":"2020-01-21T00:29:21","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T05:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=242685"},"modified":"2020-01-21T00:29:21","modified_gmt":"2020-01-21T05:29:21","slug":"senators-rebuke-move-to-terminate-motorcycle-taxis-pilot-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/01\/21\/senators-rebuke-move-to-terminate-motorcycle-taxis-pilot-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators rebuke move to terminate motorcycle taxis\u2019 pilot run"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OFF THE STREETS SOON. The Department of Transportation-Technical Working Group (DOTr-TWG) on motorcycle taxis chair Antonio Gardiola Jr. said the TWG would recommend the termination of the study due to a \u201clegal rigmarole\u201d that failed the gathering of data due to the actions being taken by one of the players. As such, Gardiola told reporters ahead of the Senate hearing on Monday (Jan. 20, 2020) that all motorcycle taxis will be considered illegal and will not be allowed to operate. (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Several senators on Monday expressed dismay over the recommendation of the technical working group (TWG) under the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to prematurely end the pilot program for motorcycle taxis saying the move is arbitrary, unjust, and without basis.<\/p>\n

In a media interview, Senator Grace Poe said the decision of the Inter-Agency TWG on Motorcycle Taxis is wrong because of the \u201clack of proper consultation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, said the decision appears to be aimed at getting back at some motorcycle ride-hailing firms who are continuously questioning and challenging the TWG.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng nangyayari dito, naiinis sila<\/em>\u00a0(TWG)\u00a0kasi nagra<\/em>-rally\u00a0ang ibang kompanya, nagpa-<\/em>file\u00a0ng kaso laban sa kanila, kaya ginagawa nila ito. So parang<\/em>\u00a0arbitrary,\u00a0hindi base sa rason, kundi base lang sa gusto nilang gawin<\/em>\u00a0(They are annoyed because some companies are staging rallies and filing cases against them, that’s why they are doing this. It seemed arbitrary, it is not based on reason but only based on what they wanted to do),\u201d Poe told reporters after the Senate hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSobrang nakaka-dismaya na ganyan magpatakbo ang mga ibang miyembro ng gobyerno\u2026 kaya dapat nga kinukwestiyon kung ano ba talaga ang kanilang<\/em>\u00a0competence\u00a0para mamuno ng programa na yan<\/em>\u00a0(It\u2019s very dismaying that some members of government work this way\u2026 their competence to head that program should be questioned),\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) board member Antonio Gardiola Jr. earlier announced that the TWG is recommending the termination of the pilot run on motorcycle taxis due to legal actions taken by one of the motorcycle-hailing firms involved in the study.<\/p>\n

Poe said her panel would not stop on asking members of the TWG to attend the Senate hearings on the legalization of motorcycle taxis until they reconsider their position and continue the pilot program until its intended deadline on March 23.<\/p>\n

She said the law that the Senate intends to pass on motorcycle taxis should be based on the result of careful studies, which the TWG is supposed to conduct.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi nila pwedeng i-<\/em>pressure\u00a0ang Senado at Kongreso na dapat magkaroon na ng batas dahil ang<\/em>\u00a0Congress\u00a0ay hindi dapat maglabas ng batas kung wala kaming sapat na datos. Kaya pinag-aaralan nating mabuti para ang batas na ilalabas natin ay makatarungan at epektibo<\/em>\u00a0(They cannot pressure the Senate and the House that a law should be passed, because Congress could not pass a law if we have no complete data. That\u2019s why we need careful study so that the law that we pass would be just and effective),\u201d Poe said.<\/p>\n

Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian echoed Poe\u2019s sentiments.<\/p>\n

Recto observed that the TWG recommendation to suddenly end the pilot testing seemed \u201cfilled with anger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPag binasa ko \u2018yung dokumento parang napakatindi ng galit ninyo<\/em>\u00a0(On reading the document, it seems that you are very angry),\u201d he said during Senate hearing.<\/p>\n

He also said imposing a 10,000 bikers limit for each motorcycle-hailing firm participating in the pilot study has no enough public consultation, as proven by the temporary restraining order (TRO) granted by the courts halting its implementation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaliwanag sa dokumentong ito, puro galit din. Dahil nag<\/em>-rally\u00a0laban sa inyo, galit na kaagad kayo. Kulang kayo sa<\/em>\u00a0public consultation,\u00a0\u2018yan ang problema ninyo<\/em>\u00a0(It is clear in this document, it is full of anger. Because they staged a rally against you, you immediately got angry. You lacked public consultation, that is your problem),\u201d Recto said.<\/p>\n

Gatchalian agreed with Recto, saying he could not see the basis to terminate the pilot testing on motorcycle taxis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWala ho kasing basehan \u2018tong lahat, at narinig niyo naman po \u2018yung sinabi ng ating mga senador, at lahat ho kami sumasangayon na hindi ho tama itong resolusyon na ginawa ninyo dahil kawawa at nagdudusa ho ang ating mga pasahero<\/em>\u00a0(These are all baseless, and you heard what our senators said, all of us agree that your resolution is not right because our riding public are suffering),\u201d Gatchalian said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Several senators on Monday expressed dismay over the recommendation of the technical working group (TWG) under the Department of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":242686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-jose-cielito-reganit","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242687,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242685\/revisions\/242687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}