Transport network company Grab Philippines, reacting to criticisms by PBA Party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles, shot back and questioned the lawmaker’s motives.
”There seems to be a targeted attack on a company that has its drivers’ welfare as a major pillar in its strategy,” Grab Philippines country head Brian Cu said in a statement.
Nograles accused Grab Philippines of forcing its driver-partners to work like “slaves,” using “unfair sharing mechanism and humanly impossible quotas” as incentives.
“Grab is incentivizing modern-day slavery. While Grab executives like Brian Cu are splurging on things like joining a P35 million per share golf country club, their driver-partners hardly earn enough to be able to afford three square meals a day and keep up with the amortization cost of their vehicles,” Nograles said in a statement.
“We don’t know what the motivation of Congressman Nograles is but we remain confused about who he is fighting for,” Cu said.
“No one among Grab partners is being forced to drive long hours,” he said.
In a related development:
• The Department of Transportation is rushing to amend a 2015 order that allows transport network companies (TNCs) to set their own fares, an official of an attached agency said Friday.
A draft is up for review with Secretary Arthur Tugade when he returns from Cebu where he led the inauguration of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Terminal 2, said Aileen Lizada, member of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.
Department Order 2015-011 states the fares for transportation network vehicle services are “set by TNC (transport network companies), subject to oversight from the LTFRB in cases of abnormal disruptions of the market.”
“As long as DO is in place, they can have a different interpretation of it…” Lizada told dzMM radio.
The 3-year-old department order was the basis for ride-hailing company Grab’s insistence on the legality of its P80 minimum fare, which a lawmaker alleged was illegal because there was no public hearing on this.
Grab Philippines Public Affairs Head Leo Gonzales said only a handful of users were affected by the minimum fare, but it had become more prevalent after regulators suspended the company’s P2 per-minute charge.
The firm, one of the biggest ride-sharing apps in the country after it merged with rival Uber, has a pending fare hike petition before the LTFRB.
Nograles earlier exposed Grab’s P2 per minute travel charge, claiming it was an “illegal” and “hidden” charge.
Nograles also claimed that Grab Philippines overcharged its passengers by at least P40 per trip.
“Nograles actually caused drivers’ income to drop drastically when he questioned the legality of the P2 per minute fare component,” Cu alleged.
“Under the DO 2015-011 Grab managed fares to ensure proper driver income and fair fares for passengers. Grab’s commission is given back to the drivers in the form of incentives to supplement their income and to reward passengers with better service,” Cu said.