We should throw Angkas on top of the pyre of online discussions generated by news of Chinese intruding into Philippine territory.
Not only is Angkas getting very very special treatment from the Department of Transportation and the Metro Manila Development Authority — BEING THE ONLY MOTORCYCLE TAXI SERVICE ALLOWED TO OPERATE.
Angkas is also a foreign carpet bagger, profiting from the misery of Filipino commuters!
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Just this morning, I was prompted into Googling information on whether Angkas is Filipino owned and couldn’t find any reference to its ownership. Neither its official website nor the dozens of articles I found stated that it was either fully or partially Filipino owned.
I searched for this information because a friend told me that Angkas is 99.9 percent Singaporean owned.
The only other information that seems to hint at the ownership of Angkas is that its CEO is Angeline Tham is Singaporean born and is/was married to a Filipino.
Angeline Tham was born in Singapore and took up a business degree at Stern School of Business in New York University. She was a banker for JP Morgan Singapore for almost five years, until she realized that it was not her forte. She then came up with a business idea that brought her to Manila. She eventually married a Filipino and now has a toddler. Angkas started in December 2016.
(Source)
Of course, the nationality of the CEO would have little bearing on the nationality of Angkas, but then again, would it be reasonable to expect Tham to be the sole owner/proprietor? Is it even registered as a business in the Philippines?
Another ride hailing service, Go Jek, was barred by the Land Transport and Franchise Regulatory Board from operating in the Philippines.
…LTFRB pre-accreditation committee said in its decision that only 20.4% out of 1.2 billion common shares were “actually sold” to PCVC, therefore concluding that Velox is “not-Filipino owned.”
In its decision, the LTFRB further said that Velox “failed” to present Proof of Payment of Capital Gains Tax and Proof of Payment of Subscribed Shares allegedly subscribed by PCVC.
(Source)
Perhaps Mr. George Royeca, the head of Angkas’ Regulatory and Public Affairs, can clarify these issues.
Writer.
Monopoly is the name of the game in businesses in the Philippines. This is the reason the business owners are politicians themselves; or they are in cahoots with powerful politician… Look at the : Ayalas; the Lopezes; etc…in bed with the Aquinos. The Cojuangcos, who are political/business entities, themselves.
Most Filipinos don’t think big, with regards to businesses. Their mentality is “sari-sari store” mentality. So, foreigners, who have capital and know how, come here and establish business monopolies
The ‘Do Nothing” Legislative Branch of our government cannot do anything about it. Because most of the people in the Legislative Branch, are there only for the : power, the pay and the Pork Barrel.
Angkas or no ankas…it will be the same. They should solve the nagging traffic problem !
Can somebody explain me why the Philippines have such a fucking stupid law in the first place?
1) Racism. Many Filipinos think foreigners are evil, horrible people who come to the Philippines only to exploit, abuse and destroy. The irony is that BECAUSE the Philippines has a lot of nonsensical and counterproductive laws, and a perverse culture that accepts theft, dishonesty and violence, the only foreign businessmen who dare to come here are precisely that type who are most likely to exploit, abose and destroy. Businessmen who are basically honest, decent and respectful get taken to the cleaners by their employees, local government officials, or the BIR. Or (if they’re a bit smarter) they just avoid this country entirely.
2) Oligarchy. The people in charge know that the general population aren’t very smart. They know that they’ll believe all sorts of stupid theories, such as “we can only be strong if we don’t engage in foreign trade”, and “The Philippines is for FIlipinos”. This sort of thing keeps people poor. Keep people poor, and they’ll remain stupid. Keep them stupid, and YOU stay in control. The means is the end.
Marius,
buying and owning just a few shares is quite an anonymous transaction/trade. And as with Dutch companies, they dont know that you have a few shares in their companies. Okay, I have to pay taxes (to the Dutch IRS) over any (cash-)dividend that I get but hey thats nothing new.
@Robert Haighton:
We have crooks of all kinds for the past 30 years of Aquino era…we have self serving crooked politicians. We have corrupt leaders, who scammed voters. We have the Aquino Cojuangco political axis, who passed business monopoly laws, for themselves and their cahoots.
We have citizens who voted for them; and these citizens, were brainwashed with the fake EDSA revolution. EDSA was fake news, that became fake history taught in our schools.
So, the citizens became dumb as sheeps. They were even dumbed down by the biased and fake news mainstream media…so, these are the results: idiotic laws and desensitized citizens !
Hyden,
because of all that, I am not allowed to buy any shares of Globe, PLDT or Sun (to just name a few PH companies), because I am a foreigner … ?
As Filipino(-American) you can buy shares of any Dutch company you want as long as they are registered at a stock exhange.
You can come and buy stocks in America, in the New York Stock Exchange…stock trading is done everyday , except holidays at Wall Street.
Under U.S. Pres. Donald Trump; the U.S. economy is booming. We have the lowest unemployment, and America is on the forefront again with regards to economy. The recent killing of the terrorist Al Baggdadi in Syria made the U.S. stocks surges upward…
Pres. Trump will surely will be reelected in the coming 2020 U.S. Presidential election; inspite of what the biased and fake mainstream media tell you…
Don’t waste your time and money in the Philippines !
You have to wonder why no pure-blooded Filipino ever came up with the idea, in the first place. Are you sore that it took a young Singaporean married to a Filipino to originate such a business concept and emerge yet as a monopoly because no Filipino has the entrepreneurial aptitude to recognize a unique opportunity and actually risk it ahead of everyone else, nor the enterprising spirit to follow suit and compete?
I mentioned a few months back that the Philippines is about to be diced up and taken over by foreign corporations based in Asia. A few people laughed.
I believe this will actually be a good thing in the long run. Eventually enough of the country will be foreigner-owned that it will actually function. When Singapore takes over the BIR and the BOC, the economy will probably skyrocket.
Better this country be run by civilised meritocratic Singaporeans rather than Filipino chimpanzees
Duterte is the one running the country right now, is he the Filipino Chimpanzee?
No exception here…