A party-list lawmaker on Friday urged the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to reject outright the petition of Grab Philippines to reimpose its ‘illegal’ P2-per-minute charge on patrons.
Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta Party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles made the statement after the transport network company petitioned Friday at the LTFRB to reimpose the much-maligned charge, claiming the agency’s earlier suspension of it was “an infringement of the equal protection clause guaranteed by the Philippine Constitution.”
In its petition, it stated that “it is most respectfully prayed that the order dated April 19, 2018, rendered by the Honorable Board directing the petitioner to suspend the imposition of P2 per minute charge be set aside as it is contrary to law and applicable jurisprudence,” Grab said.
Grab said so because the suspension of the travel time charge has purportedly given “unwarranted benefits, advantage and preference” to other TNCs.
Last April 19, the LTFRB ordered Grab to stop charging passengers a travel time fee of P2 per minute as it board investigates Nograles claims.
Grab added that suspending the per-minute fare infringes upon the equal protection clause guaranteed by the Constitution.
It also claimed that almost all of the newly accredited transport network companies impose per minute charges, citing a table outlining the fare mechanisms of new ride-sharing firms. It said that even taxis are allowed to impose per minute charges.
“The suspension on the per minute charge imposed by the responsible members of the Board have also given unwarranted benefits, advantage and preference to the other transportation network companies since operators and drivers belonging to the common supply base will necessarily transfer to the other TNCs because the latter are allowed to impose per minute charges,” Grab said.
But Nograles said that Grab’s petition “is unfounded since re-imposition means it was legal in the first place. It was never approved therefore there is nothing to reimpose.”
Nograles had been exposing several of Grab’s questionable practices in the past few days.
“Grab has no moral authority to cite equal protection under the laws since they themselves admitted that no public hearing was ever conducted to introduce the P2 per minute charge. They are the number one violators of due process and equal protection and their actions have defrauded the public of an estimated minimum of P3.24 billion,” said Nograles.
Nograles had earlier estimated that Grab owes its riders some P3.24 billion in illegally-collected fares following its own admission that it has been charging them P2 per minute on travel time since June 2017. The charge did not have the blessing of the LTFRB.
If Grab really wants to play the equal protection card, then it should also be ready to cough up P200 billion, Nograles said.
“The PUV driver that gets caught overcharging is fined P5,000 per violation by the LTFRB. Equal protection requires that Grab should be fined the same amount per trip where they overcharged by P2 per minute. That’s over P200 billion in fines already,” he said.
Singapore-based Grab earlier bought the Southeast Asian operations of Uber, its main competitor. Uber is an American company.
Nograles reiterated his call for Grab to refund the illegally-collected fees, or else face the brunt of the law.
Grad said that a motion for reconsideration renders the April 19 order of the LTFRB lifted, despite the board stating it is immediately executory.
Grab had filed a motion for reconsideration on April 20 on grounds that the order was “contrary to law, revised rules of the LTFRB jurisprudence, which would cause grave or irreparable damage not only to the petitioner but more so to the operators and drivers of the accredited transport network vehicles if the same is not rectified.”
It also claimed that it has the authority to formulate its fare structure under Department of Transportation and Communications Order No. 2015-011.
It said the travel charge ensures that drivers are able to earn enough.