Labor group rejects limit to Angkas, zaps LTFRB

The labor group Partido Manggagawa on Monday called on the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to withdraw its decision to reduce the number of Angkas drivers due to a cap set by the board.

The LTFRB Technical working Group has reduced the number of riders from Angkas to 10,000 from 27,000 by the start of the 2020. 

“We call on the LTFRB to withdraw its decision. Almost 20,000 Angkas riders are facing a sad Christmas and a bleak new year,” PM spokesman Wilson Fortaleza said. 

“Fostering competition in the motorcycle taxi sector is good, but it should not lead to a massive dislocation of riders. These Angkas riders have already gone through months of training and practical experience in plying motorcycle taxis, and only for them to end up jobless due to an LTFRB decision.”  

But LTFRB board member Antonio Gardiola on Monday claimed no motorcycle riders would lose their jobs even after the implementation of a cap on the number of riders allowed under the pilot run of operations.

In a statement, the LTFRB called on DBDOYC Inc., more popularly known as Angkas, to “stop deceiving the riders.”

“Please stop deceiving the riders because no one will lose his job. The technical working group has even increased the cap from 27,000 to 30,000,” the board said. 

Senate President Ralph Recto slammed the board’s decision, saying unemployment was the saddest Christmas gift Philippine government could give, in the wake of the LTFRB’s decision to reduce the number of drivers for the motorcycle-ride-hailing company Angkas from 27,000 to 10,000 by January.

“Christmas is the season of giving, not of taking away; of spreading cheer and not sowing unhappiness,” he said. 

But for 17,000 Angkas drivers and their families, he said, they got the saddest and meanest Christmas gift ever: Their livelihood being taken away. 

The gift of unemployment, Recto said, was the most heartless of all, the worst Christmas bonus, one that even Scrooge would not even dare think of. 

PM has a history of solidarity with riders’ issues and struggles as it considers them as workers. Aside from the legalization of the motorcycle taxi, PM has supported the fight of riders against the plaka vest and the doble plaka.

“We also call on the Department of Labor and Employment to study the employment relations in the TNVS sector, including motorcycle taxis, and issue appropriate regulations. While companies like Angkas and Grab treat their drivers as independent contractors, we believe this is a misclassification as they should be categorized as employees with concomitant rights. The government must support the transition of riders and drivers from the informal to the formal sector. Thus this is not just a question of livelihood but also of labor standards and workers’ rights,” Fortaleza said.

According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, there are already 6.2-million registered motorcycles and tricycles as of 2013. The number is growing fast. More than two million motorcycles were registered just in the first 10 months of 2018. With Macon Ramos-Araneta