The Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 217 issued a 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) on the operations of transport network vehicle service (TNVS).

The TRO issued was to halt the implementation of the DOTC Department Order No. 2015-011 which allowed additional public transport services to operate, namely, airport buses, premium taxis, bus rapid transit and TNCs in which Uber and Grab are classified.

The court ordered transport network companies (TNCs), LTFRB and DOTC to stop accepting and approving applications for TNVS, as stated in the TRO.

The TRO was filed by the Stop and Go Coalition last September 2015. Other groups have also filed petitions against Uber and Grab in the past as well.

According to Jun Magno, president of Stop and Go, the TNVS services is becoming a problem to the current transport system because it competes with the regular taxi services and UV express. He also mentioned that unlike the other current transport systems with has a limit on the number of units, Uber and Grab do not have these unit limits. He said that they only ask a certain number of units per route, that is why there are those who opt to go colorum which causes corruption on the streets.

The courts recognized the argument of Stop and Go that the TNVS are affecting the income of the current transport services with franchises. According to them, the income of taxi and UV express drivers were cut by up to 50% because of this innovation in transportation.

The next hearing for the preliminary injunction is set on December 8, as requested by Stop and Go, which would push for the permanently cessation of the operations of Uber and Grab. The coalition is also asked to pay P300,000 surety bond as damages in case the court decides that the TRO was inappropriate for the case.

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(photos in article are from Twitter and Wikipedia)

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