With the crazy heavy traffic, motorcycles seem to be the fastest way to get around Metro Manila and some times, it is the only way to get to an appointment anywhere.
Because not everybody owns a motorcycle or would want to have one in addition the two or three cars they may own, the motorcycle taxi service Angkas is probably raking in money hand over fist.
This is all thanks to decision of members of the DOTR motorcycle taxi Technical Working Group and the OIC for Road Transport and Infrastructure Undersecretary Mark Richmond De Leon.
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Their decision to bar the inclusion of other motorcycle taxi companies from participating in the pilot testing of motorcycle taxis has created a very profitable monopoly.
Singaporean Angkas is now feasting on the travails of tens of thousands of Filipino commuters.
Just how much is Angkas earning?
I have no idea exactly how many Angkas riders are currently getting passengers in Metro Manila, but supposing there were 10,000 Angkas riders and these riders each got around 16 passengers paying P100 pesos each, this would amount to around P16,000,000 a day.
This could translate to P320 million a month (granting all the riders just worked 20 days a month) and in a year, Angkas could earn a total of P3.840 billion!
Granted that Angkas will only earn a portion of the projected P3.840 billion, it is still bound to make a huge profit considering that it didn’t invest much money at all in the Philippines.
All that Angkas really is, is an App. It doesn’t own the motorcycles driven by its riders and it doesn’t maintain a depot. Even if it did pay taxes on its earnings, their profit would still be sizeable.
The Singaporean owners of Angkas would probably be laughing all the way to the bank, having outsmarted the framers of the Philippine constitution who sought to protect certain Philippine industries from foreign carpet baggers.
Far from me from even insinuating that Usec. De Leon would be handsomely rewarded for allowing the creation of a motorcycle taxi monopoly and helping Singaporean carpetbaggers to get around the Philippine constitution’s protectionist provisions, detractors of the administration will perhaps be overjoyed to find another issue against the Duterte administration.
As if we didn’t have enough of a problem with Chinese incursions into our territorial waters, the last thing we need are Singaporean poachers taking advantage of just how pliable some of our bureaucrats are.
Isn’t it enough that thousands of Pinoys are slaving away in Singaporean homes, must Usec. De Leon allow thousands of more Pinoys to slave under the Singaporean yoke in their own homeland?
Writer.
Monopoly is the name of the game in the Philippines. I still cannot understand why, a single company like, Angkas can monopolize the motorcycle riding business. It shows that the owners of Angkas, are in cahoots, with those government officials, to take the riding Filipinos, “for a ride ” of their money…
I smell something “fishy” in this deal. The motorcycle riding business, should be an Open Market. To give employments, to Filipinos who want to be in the business.
However, there should be rules regarding : the safety of the passengers; criminals should not be motorcycle drivers; the maintenance and safety of the motorcycle; a Special Motorcycle Lane in the highways. Only thru competition, can we get the best for the riding public…
Let us remove all business monopolies in our country. Business monopolies are the remnants of the Aquino era. When the Oligarchy was in bed with the Aquinos, to enriched themselves. This was the political tactic of the Aquino Cojuangco political axis, to hold power for 30 years !