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Thursday, March 28, 2024

House leader fears fare surge

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A HOUSE leader on Wednesday expressed fears that the supposed involvement of Grab Philippines in the motorcycle (MC) taxi sector could lead to a surge in fares.

During the hearing of the House committee on Metro Manila development, Marikina City 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo asked the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to seriously probe the matter.

Quimbo said Grab has a “previous behavior” of raising fares after procuring its sole transport network vehicle service (TNVS) rival Uber in 2018.

“It’s because shortly after the acquisition of Uber by Grab, nagkaroon ng (there was an) increase in prices in that period after that acquisition,” Quimbo said during her interpellation of Anton Arcilla of the PCC Mergers and Acquisitions Office.

“Tama po, ‘yun po ‘yung isa sa mga dangers na nais tigilan ng PCC,” Arcilla said in response.

Grab has yet to react to the report as of posting time.

Recently, Grab bought Move It, an MC taxi service, with critics saying the transaction could repeat the Grab-Uber deal.

Quimbo, who used to lead the PCC, also asked Arcilla about Grab’s compliance with the alleged overcharging issue.

“Sa ngayon po…maaari din po itong i-confirm ng Grab–patuloy po na inaaral ng komisyon ang compliance ng Grab at humihingi po kami ng information at documents po from Grab to show compliance with the commitments that they agreed to back in 2018,” Arcilla said.

“Parang hindi ko yata matanggap na hinihintay ninyo sa regulated entity ang kanilang compliance,” Quimbo said.

Arcilla said they have already started investigating the alleged Grab infraction “but have not yet initiated any reviews of their transaction.”

Arcilla said they are coordinating with other regulating agencies including the Land Transportation and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) for the matter. He added that they have a price matrix.

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