A day after regulators in the Philippines suspended Uber’s ride-hailing services, the U.S. Firm has said it is appealing the decision and reinstating its services in the meantime.
All of six hours after it responded to the move from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) by agreeing to “temporarily suspend its operations,” Uber Philippines tweeted that it had “filed a motion for reconsideration with the LTFRB and will be resuming and continuing operations until the motion is resolved.”
“Over the course of this morning, tens of thousands of riders were left stranded, causing needless inconvenience, while drivers were unable to access the earning opportunities they rely on,” Uber Philippines complained on its Facebook page.
However, the regulator does not seem impressed. According to Filipino media outlet ABS-CBN, LTFRB board member Aileen Lizada texted the Manila metropolitan authority to say: “Uber is online again. Let us apprehend them.”
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The regulator did not give an explicit reason for its one-month suspension of Uber’s services on Monday. However, as noted by Rappler, a Filipino online news site that has been producing in-depth coverage of Uber’s regulatory woes in the country, the regulator did not suspend Grab, a key local rival to Uber in the south-east Asian market.
Last year, LTFRB ordered both companies to stop accepting new drivers. Both flouted the order and were fined this year, after which Grab reportedly stopped activating new vehicles in its system. Two weeks before Uber’s suspension, the regulator said the U.S. Company was still putting new drivers into its system – a charge that Uber denied.