ALL-OUT SUPPORT Duterte Quezon City Gladiators show their support for the administration at Sunday’s mass registration for aspiring motorcycle taxi drivers. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Even as JoyRide executives held a press briefing last week to deny their ties to any government official, its business development adviser said on Sunday that there was nothing wrong with being progovernment.
“The ones who should receive backlash here are those who are antigovernment. It [should be] the other way around,” said Edwin Rodriguez, business development adviser for the new motorcycle taxi ride-hailing app.
He is also the Quezon City secretary general of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan.
“First of all, we need to understand that this pilot study is a privilege accorded to us by the government,” he said during a mass registration for JoyRide driver applicants held at Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila.
He urged other stakeholders to comply with the guidelines imposed by the Department of Transportation’s technical working group, reminding them that any violation could result in the termination of the ongoing dry run for motorcycle taxis.
The mass registration was organized by the Duterte Quezon City Gladiators, a bikers group that was proadministration. Many of its members came to the event carrying placards expressing support for the government.
According to its senior representative, Moises Gomez, both JoyRide and MoveIt were invited to the activity but the latter declined to participate.
“JoyRide had the most delegates today … I’m not from JoyRide, I didn’t even submit my own application to them. They did not pay us to organize this,” he said.
Gomez added that their group merely wanted to advocate safer roads and express support for the legalization of motorcycle taxis by providing them with a platform where they could recruit more bikers.
Last week, JoyRide spokesperson Noli Eala denied rumors that Senators Bong Go, Manny Pacquiao or Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III had business interests with them.
“We have absolutely nothing to do with government. Anybody can access our Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registration papers. It’s open to the public. We have nothing to hide,” said Eala, a former Philippine Basketball Association commissioner and analyst.A check of the firm’s SEC papers showed that its board of directors was composed of members of the Chua and Nubla families, who invest mostly in banking and finance. Beatrice Chua is the chair.
The company has been under fire from netizens who accused it of receiving preferential treatment from the government during the extended three-month pilot run that would end on March 23.