By Lorenz S. Marasigan and Butch Fernandez
GRAB Philippines disbursed on Tuesday P19.2 million to users who experienced “extraordinary deviations” in fares last year, saying it has complied with an earlier order from the competition agency.
However, a senator said stiffer penalties must be imposed on Grab, given its repeated infractions in just one year.
Users who received GrabPay vouchers in varying amounts were prompted with messages in their Grab apps that instruct them to “redeem” the voucher to have the amount added to their mobile wallets.
“You have been sent this voucher in accordance to the agreement with the Philippine Competition Commission [PCC]. Once you redeem, the amount will be added to your GrabPay wallet,” the message read.
Customers, however, are required to complete the basic know-your-customer process before redemption, as required by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Disbursements are computed “from the proportion of the total fare of the passenger within the time period multiplied by the total fine.”
Passengers of the third-quarter penalty will be credited P1 for every P1,200 spent for Grab rides. Around 2.7 million passengers are eligible for disbursements.
Those whose disbursements fall under the fourth quarter will receive P1 for every P450 spent on Grab rides. Roughly 2.8 million passengers may receive disbursements.
With this, Grab said it has complied with the PCC’s order to disburse to its customers some P5.05 million for the third quarter of 2019, and another P14.15 million for the fourth quarter of the same year for charging fares that are higher than its commitment levels.
A Grab spokesman stressed on Tuesday that Grab has always been compliant with the fare matrix that is set by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
“As confirmed by the LTFRB, Grab remains in compliance with the fare matrix, and this disbursement is based on the total admin penalty by the PCC for the third quarter and fourth quarter monitoring period,” the spokesman said.
Stiffer penalty
Meanwhile, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, citing reports of continuous violation of existing rules, prodded State regulators to slap sanctions against Grab Philippines for alleged repeated infraction of existing regulations and breaches in “price and service quality” pledges even after enjoying virtual monopoly status since 2018 when its close competitor Uber folded up.
In a statement over the weekend, Gatchalian prodded the PCC to “impose stiffer penalties against ride-hailing giant Grab Philippines for repeatedly violating the country’s competition rules since the departure of Uber.”
The senator stressed that the PCC is a regulatory body mandated to enforce Republic Act 10667 or the Philippine Competition Act (PCA) which, he added, was crafted to promote economic efficiency to ensure fair and healthy market competition.
The senator pressed for stiffer sanctions on learning that the Commission had previously penalized the Transport Network Co. (TNC) four times for breaching price and service quality promises in a span of more than a year, which Gatchalian found to be “very unacceptable.”
Gatchalian recalled that soon after Grab acquired Uber’s Southeast Asia operations last year, PCC regulators already fined Grab PH for violating key provisions of the Interim Measures Order (IMO) during the merger review period of the antitrust authority.
Moreover, he noted that Grab was penalized last October 2018 for failing to maintain pre merger conditions, such as pricing policies, rider incentives and service quality.
He cited PCC data showing that regulators slapped a P6.5-million fine against Grab PH in January 2019 after it submitted “deficient, inconsistent and incorrect data for the monitoring of its compliance with its voluntary commitments.”
Data gathered by Gatchalian’s office also showed that last November 14, the State regulators ordered Grab to refund P5.05 million in fares due to “overcharging” from customers who booked their services between February and May 2019 with the PCC giving Grab a 60-day deadline to refund its customers.
Gatchalian griped that despite the imposition of previous penalties for violations, infractions are still repeated. “How many times has PCC determined violations were made and called out Grab for abuses against commuters? It’s remarkable that they have been fined repeatedly in one year,” the senator said, mostly in Filipino.
He surmised that this could be due to the fact that Grab has its grip on over 90 percent of the ride-hailing customers.
Image credits: Alysa Salen
1 comment
Thanks Grab naka received po ako ng redeem this voucher amounting Piso. Hope ma audit ito. I do not know sa iba pero Piso lang talaga na received ko from out of 19 Millions fines. Just do the math.