Joyride Riders Arrested in Taguig

Three motorcycle drivers for mobile app Joyride got arrested after the Bonifacio Global City traffic personnel on Tuesday after mistakenly arrested as habal habal. The said Kasundo Bikers were nabbed by Traffic Management Office (TMO) of Taguig City at around 7:30 a.m. on January 14. “Hinarang po kami (JoyRide bikers) habang may mga dumadaang Angkas pero hindi sila pinatigil. Hinuli kami kasi illegal daw kami, wala raw kasi kaming permit habal habal daw kami,” John Del Perez, JoyRide biker said. “Sana maging patas ang Taguig, kung bawal lahat, dapat bawal lahat,” he added. On the other hand, Atty. Patrick Leccio, JoyRide’s lawyer, called out Taguig for its “selective and discriminatory” implementation of its ordinance No. 46 series of 2006, which bans the operators of habal-habal in the city. “We deplore the baseless, abusive and arbitrary apprehensions of our Joyride (Kasundo Bikers) who were apprehended early Tuesday morning by the Traffic Management Office depriving them of their source of livelihood,” Leccio said. “If there is such an ordinance which disallows all motorcycle taxis in the city. It should be applied to all. The other riders were clearly plying the area without being apprehended. The acts of the TMO officers are foul and a clear case of harassment,” he said. “Malinaw na discriminatory at selective ang kanilang implementation ng city ordinance,” he added. The motorcycle hailing app also said in a statement that its riders did not violate any ordinance in the city of Taguig. “Ang JoyRide po ay naninindigan na walang nilabag na ordinansa ang aming mga Kasundo Bikers sa paghahatid ng mga mananakay sa loob ng BGC at sa iba pang lugar sa Taguig,” they said in a statement. “Ang kanilang pagbyahe ay bahagi ng pahintulot sa JoyRide ng DoTr- TWG for Motorcycle taxis sa ilalim ng Extended Pilot Implementation,” it added. JoyRide also vowed to continuously follow the guidelines being implemented by the government. “Seryoso po ang JoyRide sa pagtataguyod sa kapakanan ng aming Kasundo Bikers, pero kapantay po nito ang kagustuhan naming maging mapagsunod sa alituntunin at mga nakatakdang batas,” JoyRide said in a statement on Wednesday. “Kung kaya't hindi namin inaasahang ang hindi makatarungang insidenteng ito na ginawa ng mga tauhan ng TMO ng Taguig,” it added. Last January 2, Joyride President, Sherwin Yu wrote to inform Danny Canaveral, head of the Taguig TMO to inform his office of the inclusion of Joyride in the pilot run of the DOTR to ensure a smooth operation to service the needs of passengers in the BGC area. Meanwhile, JoyRide has also expressed gratitude towards the local government of Taguig for immediately bringing back the motorcyles and license of the three bikers. “Nais po naming pasalamatan na taos puso ang local government ng Taguig City, lalong-lalo na ang Public Information Office at si Ms. Maricar Brizuela, officer-in-charge ng lungsod, gayon na rin ang tanggapan ni Mayor Lino Cayetano, sa tahasang pag bigay pansin at nararapat na aksyon, sa paglilinaw sa di pagkakaunawaang naganap na ito, sa agarang pagbalik sa mga motorsiklo ng nasabing tatlong kasundo, at sa pagbabalik ng mga lisensya nila ngayong araw,” it said.

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