Don’t kill off local ride-hailing firms, group asks gov’t

MANILA, Philippines — Following a report that China’s biggest ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, was in talks to break Grab’s monopoly in the Philippines, a commuter advocacy group has urged the government to support local ride-hailing apps instead of opening the market to more foreign-owned platforms.

Primo Morillo, The Passenger Forum (TPF) convenor, said on Tuesday that while competition was necessary to present riders more options, the best way to do so was to prop up the local transport network companies (TNCs) competing against Singapore-based Grab.

The nine local TNCs are Owto, GoLag, Ryde, uHop, Hype, Hirna, SnappyCab, e-Pick Me Up and Micab.

“Homegrown TNCs should be supported rather than killed by allowing giant foreign-owned app-based ride-hailing firms to come in,” Morillo said.

He urged the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Department of Transportation to talk to the existing players about the kind of help they need which would allow them to compete before allowing another TNC to enter the market.