MANILA, Philippines – The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) began fast-tracking the renewal of expired permits for transport network vehicle service (TNVS) operators Grab and Uber on Wednesday, July 19.

“Those pending with us, which is around the total number that we will be fast-tracking, will be around somewhere between 10,000 and 11,000,” LTFRB board member Aileen Lizada told reporters after their technical working group meeting on Wednesday.

For this, the LTFRB set up a one-stop shop inside its headquarters in Quezon City. From 8 am to 3 pm every day, it will accommodate drivers with expired provisional authority (PA) permits who are waiting for their certificate of public convenience franchise, and those with expired CPCs.

The PA is given to drivers while they wait for the approval of their CPC franchise and is valid for 45 days. The PA can be renewed repeatedly until the CPC is approved.

The CPC is valid for one year to 7 years.

According to Lizada this is a measure in anticipation to July 26, when they will begin apprehending some 26,600 TNVS drivers who do not have permits.

“We have to bring it out to solve, to address immediately the problems of other commuters…. We are addressing the July 26 [order], we need to bring this out so the 3,700 [with PAs or CPCs] will reach 15,000,” Lizada said.

Lizada said they will prioritize the fast-tracking of 10,000 drivers with pending applications, but will still accept from the pool of 26,600 drivers who want to renew their expired permits.

Despite this, the LTFRB is still enforcing its July 21, 2016 order, apprehending Uber and Grab drivers with expired permits or no permits at all. – Rappler.com