Angkas bikers in gig economy, but DOLE eyeing to help them

By Samuel P. Medenilla, 25 Dec 2019

File photo: Angkas riders conduct a unity ride along Edsa on December 22, 2019 as a sign of protest against the decision of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to limit the number of its bikers.

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it is now studying how it could provide assistance to the estimated 17,000 bikers of motorcycle-hailing app Angkas.

“We are now in the process of considering how we could help them,” Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III told the BusinessMirror in a phone interview.

Director Ma. Karina Perida-Trayvilla of the Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns (BWSC) said they are now looking at the other livelihood and employment options for the affected workers.

She said Angkas drivers belong to so-called gig economy, which currently belongs to the informal sector.

Workers in the informal sector tend to enjoy fewer benefits like social security compared to their counterparts in the formal sector.

In a statement, Partido Manggagawa (PM) said the intervention of DOLE for the affected Angkas drivers should go beyond short-term employment facilitation and livelihood aid.

PM Spokesman Wilson Fortaleza stressed the need for the government to address this, especially due to the increasing numbers of people being employed by transportation network vehicles services like Angkas and Grab.

“While companies like Angkas and Grab treat their drivers as independent contractors, we believe this is a misclassification as they should be categorized as employees with concomitant rights. The government must support the transition of riders and drivers from the informal to the formal sector. Thus this is not just a question of livelihood but also of labor standards and workers’ rights,” Fortaleza said.

Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), PM said there are already 6.2 million registered motorcycles and tricycles as of 2013.

It said there is a continuous increase in motorcycle registration, especially with the growing popularity of the motorcycle-based ride-hailing app.

“The number is growing fast. More than 2 million motorcycles were registered just in the first 10 months of 2018,” Fortaleza said.

Angkas earlier announced it will soon be forced to cut down the number of its 27,000 biker-partners after the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) suddenly issued an order to limit the pool of drivers per operator to just 10,000.

Angkas and it supporters held a protest action on Sunday to oppose the LTFRB decision. PM also joined the call for LTFRB to reconsider the work force cut for Angkas.