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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Legislator urges Congress to investigate illegal couriers

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The House of Representatives will investigate the proliferation of unregulated couriers which are allegedly being used by unscrupulous individuals for illicit activities.

In filing House Resolution 481, Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza stressed the need for Congress to enact a law that will regulate foreign owned couriers and freight forwarding services to protect Filipino consumers from unscrupulous and unlicensed companies.

“There is a need to craft a law in order to regulate the couriers services in the country to protect the consumers and the legitimate players of the industry,” Atienza said.

Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza

In his resolution, Atienza cited incidents where some OFWs are being tagged as smugglers have increased due to lack of measures to regulate the freight  and courier service industry.

“The rapid growth of e-commerce resulted in the rise of the demand for courier and freight forwarding services, which started sprouting like mushrooms,” Atienza said.

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Atienza cited the Quiapo explosion in May 2017 which was traced to a package sent and carried by a Grab driver to its consignee.

In another instance, Atienza said a TNVS driver was arrested while delivering another drug package to a consignee.

A news report aired on television detailed how a package delivered by a courier company to an online customer was pilfered, taking her months before she was reimbursed by the courier company for her loss.

Atienza said that lacking the needed training and qualifications, these unlicensed couriers and forwarders are apparently prone to exploitation by unscrupulous individuals to apply, and later on steal, lose or damage the property of customers.

“Worse, customers are left uncertain with regard to who to run after the value of their lost, damaged, or pilfered shipments since there is no clear identity of the liable party, as these operators claim their drivers are simply independent contractors, which means these operators are simply facilitators,” he said.

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