Tricycle drivers cry: New Manila ordinance is ‘kotong’
MANILA, Philippines – A group of tricycle drivers trooped to Manila city hall Monday morning to protest a local ordinance regulating the operation of the tri-wheel vehicles.
“These fees are nothing else but legal extortion. They want to extort money from us with these fees when we can barely earn enough for our families,” Fernando Picorro, spokesperson of Alyansa ng mga Nagkakaisang Pedicab at Kuliglig said in a statement.
City Ordinance no. 8291 includes a list of regulation procedures and fees drivers must pay.
The group said it was nothing but a “cover-up for kotong (extortion).”
“It is clear that the ordinance will only be a burden to us with its new fees and taxes. We are already burdened with the 12% VAT (value-added tax) on oil; we are already burdened by extortions, and still they want to reduce further our small earnings,” Picorro said.
The group cited an instance on June 19 when a driver was shot in the leg when he stopped members of the Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau from towing his tricycle.
Noise barrage was also held in various areas in Manila including Bustillos in Sampaloc, UN Avenue and near Tondo Hospital.
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