Grab Philippines said the full transition of accredited drivers of Uber Philippines to its platform will push through on April 8 despite the review of the merger by the Philippine Competition Commission.
“As PCC conducts its review, Grab will continue to put our utmost support to ensure full transition of accredited Uber drivers onto our platform. To our driver-partners, we are doing our best to minimize any disruption of services so you can continuously get jobs,” Grab public affairs head Leo Gonzales said.
“To our consumers, we are continuously improving our services to meet your daily transportation needs and we will always adhere to the regulatory guidelines on pricing,” he added.
Gonzales said Grab Philippines officially received this month the notice of review on the Uber acquisition deal from the PCC .
“As the quasi-judicial body mandated to implement the national competition policy and to enforce the Philippine Competition Act… , we expected that the PCC would conduct a review of Grab’s acquisition of Uber assets to understand the impact to consumers and driver-partners,” he said.
Gonzales said the PCC could expect Grab’s cooperation in the review.
“We will prepare the necessary documents and share information required by the PCC, and will closely work with the commission to address whatever questions and clarifications they may have. We are willing to collaborate with the government and regulatory bodies, as always, to ensure that we fairly address the needs of our stakeholders,” he added.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board counted 59,020 driver partners in the Philippines.
The PCC earlier said it would evaluate and analyze if prices would likely increase after the acquisition, if ride-sharing services would deteriorate or if passengers would effectively have less options.
PCC said it recognized that the exit of California-based Uber in the Philippines would put rival Grab in virtual monopoly of the ride-sharing market until new players came into operation.