By Charmaine A. Tadalan
and Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
A RESOLUTION seeking to declare Singaporean investor Angeline Xiwen Tham as persona non grata for owning ride-hailing company Angkas at its inception has been filed in the Senate.
Economic Affairs Committee Chairman Imee R. Marcos, however, raised fears the move against DBDOYC, Inc., the corporate name of Angkas, might threaten foreign investors’ entry in the Philippines.
Senator Aquilino L. Pimentel III, under Senate Resolution No. 287, flagged foreign ownership violations of Ms. Tham, based on records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that showed she owns P9.8 billion in subscribed shares or 99.996%.
Mr. Pimentel also cited official documents that showed Ms. Tham appeared as the president of the company.
Angkas “as early as 2016, embarked on the business of motorcycle taxis despite not having any Certificate of Public Convenience and despite knowing that motorcycles cannot be utilized as common carriers,” the resolution read in part.
Further, Mr. Pimentel said that the only 2,204 out of 17,000 Angkas bikers are properly registered under the pilot testing program of the Department of Transportation (DoTr) technical working group on motorcycle taxis.
Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra clarified the resolution is merely an expression of sentiment and that it remains within the authority of President Rodrigo R. Duterte and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to declare an alien as persona non grata.
“There must be a formal declaration (persona non grata) first by the president or the DFA; but under our immigration laws, any alien may be barred entry by the BI (Bureau of Immigration) for reasons other than being declared persona non grata,” he told reporters over phones message.
“As I said, the executive department will give much weight to the senate resolution, once approved.”
Ms. Marcos disagreed in resorting to blacklisting foreign investor, now that the DoTr and bike-hailing operators are in the middle of negotiations.
“Nagulat ako ng konti kasi ayaw natin ng ganun kasi kung foreign investor bina-blacklist natin baka wala na pumasok dito,” she said in a briefing, Thursday. “Ayusin nila. We are now in the process of negotiating and mukhang bukas isipan ni [DoTr] Secretary [Arthur P.] Tugade. Wala namang hindi makukuha sa magandang usapan.”
(I was a bit surprised because if we blacklist foreign investors, they might not come in anymore. They should fix it. We are now in the process of negotiating and it seems DoTr Secretary Arthur P. Tugade is open-minded. Everything can be reached through a good discussion.)
She also recommended to the department, through the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), to look into the ownership of other operators, JoyRide (We Move Things Philippines, Inc.), and Move It (We-Load Transcargo Corp.), for the sake of transparency.
In addition, Ms. Marcos suggested the local government unit should be given more regulatory power, and that mechanisms should be put in place to control price surge.
Sought for comment, Angkas said it wishes to move forward from issues related to the previous debacle with the government’s technical working group that imposed a cap on the number of bikers and allowed two more motorcycle firms to participate in the pilot program on motorcycle taxis.
Angkas issued the statement in response to Mr. Pimentel’s call.
“We have high regard for the Senate and hope for a positive result in the process. We respect the prerogative of the good Senator, but we would really like to move forward on these issues,” Angkas said in a statement issued by its regulatory and public affairs head, George I. Royeca.
“We in Angkas, specifically Angeline and myself, look forward to cooperating and collaborating with the Senate, Congress, DoTr, and the LTFRB whom have already come together in an excellent display of democracy in action,” the ride-hailing firm said.
“Our focus is on making the pilot study a success to further improve the welfare of our Filipino commuting public.”
