Transport group hits move to shut down motorcycle taxi firm
MANILA, Philippines — Members of a motorcycle transport group recently staged a rally protesting a House committee recommendation to exclude a motorcycle taxi company from the government’s three-year-old pilot program.
According to Romeo Maglunsod, one of the representatives of the United Motorcycle Taxi Community (UMTC), the country needs job-generators, as UMTC members slammed the recent move of House Committee on Metro Manila Development Chairperson and Manila Rep. Rolando Valeriano.
Maglunsod’s group rallied at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila to decry Valeriano’s recommendation to shut down the operations of motorcycle taxi company Move It — a proposal which the group said was “an unjustifiable threat to their livelihoods”.
Speaking in Filipino, Maglunsod said that if adopted, the Valeriano recommendation would affect the lives of 6,500 families.
“Why is Congressman Valeriano killing jobs? Life is hard. Everything is expensive. We have families we need to take care of. If Move It is shut down and we lose our jobs, how will we feed them?” asked Maglunsod.
For his part, UMTC representative Jet Cruz appealed to legislators to use their power and influence to provide riders with more job opportunities by opening up the motorcycle taxi industry instead of limiting the number of players in the country.
“This is not just about Move It but about the whole motorcycle taxi industry,” said Cruz.
“There are motorcycle taxi bills pending in Congress that could open the doors to more job opportunities, and we urge House leaders to prioritize this instead of paying attention to recommendations that would rob people of jobs and employment opportunities,” he added.
According to UMTC member Amor Cañete Pilor, both commuters and riders benefit when there are multiple players in the motorcycle taxi industry.
“Of course on our part, we want to work with a company that can give us better wages and better benefits," said Pilor.
Another UMTC member, Catherine Lorenzo, warned that “if Move It is banned, kawawa ang riders and commuters as they will only have two choices. Why would any lawmaker want that?”
“If Move It is banned, and the remaining two apps — which are so unreliable — are left, then kawawa naman ang drivers and passengers,” said Lorenzo.
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