Temporary permits for ride-hailing services and other modes of public transportation do not exist and any document similar to that are fake and illegal, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) clarified amid reports of the prevalence of its use particularly in Transport Network Vehicle Service (TNVS).

LTFRB chairman Vigor D. Mendoza II said what the agency issues is either a provisional authority or an authority to operate, and nothing more.

“There is no such thing as tempo or temporary permits. This so-called tempo is fake and any TNVS or public transport drivers and saying they have such is clear and simple illegal operations,” said Mendoza.

The so-called tempo was an illegal practice wherein TNVS were given temporary permits to operate.

The modus became rampant and became one of the sources of corruption in the agency as transport groups are claiming that the temporary permits are issued in exchange for a fee and regular commission of erring LTFRB personnel.

The “tempo” issue became one of the major complaints of transport groups as they emphasized that it is tantamount to colorum and in response, the LTFRB started the crackdown as part of the measure to increase the earnings of drivers and operators.

Mendoza then warned Transport Network Companies (TNCs) to police their own ranks by ensuring that all TNVS under their respective platforms are compliant with the government regulations.

“We already put a stop to this illegal practice right after my meeting with TNCs last month. But we keep on receiving complaints that there are still a handful of TNVS defying our warning on the use of this so-called tempo,” said Mendoza.

The campaign against “tempo”, according to Mendoza, was complemented with more aggressive anti-colorum operations across the country.

Based on the computation of transport groups, colorum vehicles take away 30 percent of their daily income and the operation against “tempo” is an added earnings protection for legitimate transport groups.

Mendoza said the operation against temporary permits will also be monitored in other public transport platforms.

He added that intelligence-gathering was also intensified against the cohorts of TNVS operators in the LTFRB.

“Let this serve as a warning to all TNCs that we will not hesitate to cancel your authority to operate if we find out that you are tolerating and doing nothing to address this. These people can never operate if the TNCs are only doing their job because what they are using is their platform,” said Mendoza.

“And let this warning also reach erring LTFRB personnel that you would not only be dismissed, you would also face criminal charges once we catch you,” he emphasized.

Mendoza explained that the LTFRB is now fast-tracking all the pending applications as part of his commitment to address all backlogs, which was monitored to be more than 30,000 as of last month.

He said the LTFRB is now bringing out all the authorities to operate as fast as possible so that no TNVS will resort to Illegal activities.