Binay scores administration for traffic woes, Uber, GrabTaxi mess

Vice President Jejomar Binay on Monday scored Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and other transport agencies’ failure to address traffic woes in the country.

In his speech before the 27th Pacific Insurance Conference in Makati City, Binay scored Abaya’s supposed insensitivity, as well as the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s (LTFRB) inability to fully utilize mobile transport services such as Uber and GrabTaxi.

“New solutions are often suppressed and callous officials cling to their posts — as we have seen in the case of the DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communications) under the current administration,” Binay said.

Binay is a presidential aspirant in the 2016 elections. Abaya, meanwhile, is the acting president of the Liberal Party, which is fielding the former Interior Sec. Mar Roxas as standard bearer.

Binay cited the LTFRB’s failure to regulate mobile app-based transportation services because these do not fall under the traditional public transport categories.

“For example, in the face of the serious deficiencies in our urban transit systems, the UV express service came into being, an improvisation demanded by the market,” Binay said.

“For years, the LTFRB did not know how to deal with the UV express services since they did not fall into the old public transport categories. When the LTRFB finally figured out how to regulate the UV services, Uber and Grabtaxi came along,” Binay added.

Earlier, the LTFRB failed to regulate Uber and GrabTaxi because these do not fall under its mandatory framework. Taxi drivers had complained that they were losing passengers because of intense competition with Uber and GrabTaxi, which then operated without a franchise.

In May, the DOTC issued a circular creating the Transportation Network Vehicle Service (TNVS) classification so that the DOTC may regulate app-based services offered by Transportation Network Companies (TNC).

READ: DOTC now regulates app-based transport services like Uber, GrabTaxi | Draft LTFRB order: Uber cars, etc., must apply for franchise | LTFRB to tackle complaints vs ‘choosy’ GrabTaxi drivers

Under a new classification, “a TNC is defined as an organization that provides pre-arranged transportation services for compensation using an internet-based technology application or a digital platform technology to connect passengers with drivers using their personal vehicles.”

In August, Uber and GrabTaxi were granted accreditation by the LTFRB as the first recognized TNCs or transport network companies in the country.

Binay hit the administration anew for being “insensitive” and for being afflicted by “paralysis by analysis.”

“Given the high rates of poverty our skewed economy created, our people can no longer afford unresponsive government. We can no longer tolerate leaders afflicted with ‘analysis paralysis.’ We need leaders ready to accept innovation and embrace change,” Binay said.

“There is no room for insensitivity or aloofness in this world. Those who fail to understand the people they serve will fail — be they corporate service providers or political regimes,” he added.

Binay faces graft indictment before the Ombudsman for allegedly rigging the procurement for the design and construction of the P2.28 billion Makati City Hall Building II, deemed the country’s priciest car park building.

Besides the allegedly overpriced car park building, Binay faces four other plunder and graft complaints before the Ombudsman over the alleged anomalies involving the Makati Science Highschool Building, University of Makati, a Fort Bonifacio property, and over an allegedly anomalous land deal between the Alphaland and the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, where Binay is long-running president. Binay decried political harassment by his detractors in the allegations.