A Philippine judge clarified the ruling of his court, suspending the application of permits by prospective drivers

A Philippine judge clarified Saturday that the ruling of his court doesn't stop operations of ride-sharing companies, but only suspend the application of permits by prospective drivers.

Reuters reported that Judge Santiago Arenas' ruling in a Quezon City regional trial court was interpreted by most people as suspending ride-sharing firms like Uber and GrabCar for three weeks. He later on clarified in commercial radio station DZMM that the ban was for driver applicants and not on the companies.

According to Rappler, the ruling was made after the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) received complaints about the accreditation of transportation network vehicle services (TNVS), especially on the oversupply of Uber, GrabCar units.

In a 7-page temporary restraining order the transportation department and LTFRB should stop "accepting, processing, and approving of applications belonging to TNVS category...for a period of 20 days effective from date of receipt."

"There is extreme urgency to issue a temporary restraining order to the petitioner to prevent grave and irreparable injury and damages because of their claim that they suffer less or low incomes and earnings is found to be persuasive," as stated by the court.

The petitioner is the Angat Tsuper Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator ng Pilipinas Genuine Organization Transport Coalition, Incorporated (STOP and GO). Its president Jun Magno said they just wanted the process to be equal, according to a report by The Inquirer.

The Stop and Go petition said that Uber and GrabCar got special treatment to operate even without a franchise. "The income of taxi drivers was slashed by up to 50 percent because of the app-based transport, which does not follow tariffs imposed by the government," said Magno.

According to data from the government, there are currently 3,500 pending applications from drivers who want to be included in the Uber and GrabCar service. The ruling in Quezon City make Philippines the first country to have regulate app-based services such as this.