Grab Philippines said it continues to “proactively” work with the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to “exhaust” all possible measures to disburse the remaining 27 percent administrative fee.
“To date, Grab has successfully disbursed 73 percent of the administrative fee, and continues to proactively work with the PCC to exhaust all possible measures towards the full depletion of the remaining 27 percent administrative fee,” Grab Philippines said in a statement on Tuesday.
Following the competition body’s announcement that it is now mulling over the imposition of a fine against Grab Philippines for its failure to release the full amount of refunds to its users, the ride-hailing app said it remains “fully committed to complying with its undertakings and commitments with the PCC and doing right by its stakeholders.”
Through its engagements with the PCC, Grab Philippines said it has provided the competition body a set of “disbursement options,” and is presently awaiting the PCC’s decision so that the chosen option can be implemented immediately.
“Grab Philippines maintains utmost willingness and eagerness to work with the new Commission to fully resolve this matter at the soonest possible time.”
At a media briefing on Monday, Ivy Medina, Officer-in-Charge Director of the PCC Mergers and Acquisition Office said, “The Commission is now considering whether or not the circumstances for which those refunds were not actually fully paid to the consumers would merit another fine to be imposed.”
Medina said there was a “defect” in the way the ride-hailing app complied, such that the portion of the amount that they should have given was not fully refunded to the consumers. For his part, PCC Chairman Michael G. Aguinaldo noted that there are portions of the refund order that Grab cannot comply with. However, he said the ride-hailing app has stated its reasons for its inability to refund the amounts. Aguinaldo said the Commission’s decision may revolve around the sufficiency of Grab’s reasons and if the ride-hailing app’s inability to refund the amounts is justified.