Uber willing to be fined than suspended

Uber riders will have to wait another week to find out whether the ride-sharing company can resume operations sooner than the monthlong suspension imposed by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) for violating its order.

The LTFRB on Wednesday gave Uber a chance to file another petition seeking to convert its suspension into a hefty fine after senators tried to broker an agreement between the two parties to ease the woes of  commuters.

Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, emerged from a three-hour closed-door meeting, saying she hoped the suspension would be lifted by next week when the LTFRB would have decided Uber’s new pleading in a special board meeting on Wednesday.

Slow decision process

But Poe also expressed disappointment with the slow process in settling the matter, noting that the LTFRB still had to go over and decide Uber’s new pleading.

“We are quite happy with the outcome of the meeting because we believe that this will be resolved and that the suspension period will be shorter,” she told reporters. “But we are also quite sad because it’s the process that slows down the resolution of this issue.”

Poe said she hoped the agency would make a decision with the welfare of thousands of commuters in the capital as its priority.

She noted that Uber was “generous” in its efforts to rectify its offenses. “They accepted their wrongdoing and promised to give the LTFRB all the data it needed.”

Drivers’ compensation

She added that Uber promised to compensate all drivers affected by the suspension and to pay the LTFRB a fine “multiple times” higher than the P5 million it paid for earlier offenses.

“What I’m saying is, they are following the law, but I’m sorry to say that it is our regulation that is making it slower,” Poe said.

Earlier, senators decried the LTFRB decision, saying it was the commuters who were taking the brunt of the blanket suspension imposed on Uber.

They urged the agency to convert the suspension into appropriate administrative fines to stop further aggravating commuters’ woes.

New pleadings

“We suggested to the LTFRB during the hearing to make the penalty in the form of a fine rather than stopping Uber’s operation just like how most regulatory bodies fine companies that have public interest,” Sen. Bam Aquino said.

Aquino, who was also present during the meeting, said the board agreed to hear Uber’s new pleadings next Wednesday.

Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, vice chair of the committee on public services, said he also pushed for cutting short the suspension and for imposing a higher monetary penalty on Uber.

At the meeting, Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked the agency to stop its “selective crackdown just to prove a point” and review its suspension order.

“Commuters are taking the brunt of this punishment, which is unfair,” she said. “Are you cracking down on abusive taxi drivers and colorum units as much as you are hell-bent on cracking down on Uber and other TNVS (transport network vehicle services) providers?” she asked the LTFRB.