A party-list lawmaker questioned the Grab Philippines’ refund system after several of its passengers expressed dismay over the measly rebate they received from the ride-hailing service company.

ACT-CIS Party-list Representative Eric Go Yap noted that Grab passengers received an amount as low as PHP1, or an average of PHP20, after the firm rolled out a refund worth PHP19.2 million as ordered by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) for overcharging violations.

“Hindi makatwiran ang refund na ito. Napakaliit! Hindi tayo naniniwala na sa isang ride, wala pang piso ang maire-refund sayo. Buti sana kung sa drivers ito lahat napupunta eh (This refund is unjust. It’s too small. We don’t believe that a single ride is only less than a peso worth of refund. It would have been acceptable if everything goes to the drivers),” Yap said.

“Hindi pwedeng sa bawat violation nila, refund na lang ang gagawin. Hindi lang isang beses ito nangyari noong 2019 (The penalty should not be just a refund for every violation. This [overpricing] did not just occur once in 2019),” Yap added.

Yap noted that the “unfair and unjustified” pricing of Grab has been discovered during two separate monitoring periods last year.

He said Grab must honor its commitment to meet the price cap, as he echoed the woes of Filipinos for its unreasonable pricing.

“Sabi nila kung hindi mo kaya magbayad, huwag ka na lang mag-book ng Grab. Hindi ito issue na kung afford ba ng ordinaryong Pilipino ang presyo ng pamasahe ng Grab, ang issue rito ay kung tama ang kanilang sinisingil sa kanilang riders (They said that you shouldn’t book a Grab if you can’t afford it. But this is not an issue of whether an ordinary Filipino can afford Grab’s fares. The issue here is whether the company is charging the right price for its riders),” Yap said.

The lawmaker said that aside from Grab, there are already new firms that entered the market but yet to make a significant difference in the competition.

He explained that promoting competition would prevent monopoly, but letting other ride-hailing service companies to enter the market must be thoroughly studied by Congress to avoid its possible contribution to traffic congestion.

Yap reiterated the need for an efficient public transport system to decrease dependence on ride-hailing applications such as Grab. (PNA)