3 Joyride riders arrested in Taguig over habal habal

MANILA: At 7:30 AM on January 14, Traffic Management Office (TMO) of Taguig City arrested three Joyride riders. However, the Kasundo Bikers were mistaken as habal habal. Following the arrest, the "selective and discriminatory" execution of the ordinance No. 46 series of 2006 by Taguig was criticised by JoyRide’s lawyer Atty. Patrick Leccio. In case you're not aware of the ordinance, it does nothing but forbids the operators of habal-habal in the city of Taguig.

“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. 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. Malinaw na discriminatory at selective ang kanilang implementation ng city ordinance", said Leccio.

As for the folks from the JoyRide app, they stated that no ordinance in the city of Taguig was violated by its riders. Moreover, JoyRide also went to cite that they strive hard to follow the rules and regulations. Sherwin Yu, who is the JoyRide President, had written to Danny Canaveral, head of the Taguig TMO on January 2, 2020, that JoyRide is part DOTR's pilot run and will be serving the passengers in the BGC.

"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. Sana maging patas ang Taguig, kung bawal lahat, dapat bawal lahat", said John Del Perez, the JoyRide biker.

Following a sequence of events, the license and the motorcycles of all three bikers were returned by the Taguig government. And, JoyRide was not hesitant in exhibiting appreciation for the same.

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