Gatchalian flags TNCs recruiting drivers in payout sites

Department of Social Welfare and Development Rex Gatchalian condemned various Transport Network Companies for supposedly recruiting drivers during the distribution of the ₱5,000 cash relief assistance.

“Grab, inDrive, Move It, it’s bad enough that you exceeded your allowed operating caps, but don’t turn the payout centers into drivers-riders recruitment venues,” said Gatchalian through a Facebook post.

“That’s where you're pirating and activating drivers and riders of other platforms,” he added.

It marked the latest issue to arise from the social welfare agency’s rollout of relief efforts to the public transportation sector which is set to extend to provinces after the holy week break.

In previous conferences, Gatchalian revealed that some TNCs were not fully submitting their “unfiltered” lists to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

This was supposedly done to conceal the existence of “tempo” drivers within these companies, individuals that were actively operating and providing transportation services but did not have documents through the regulatory board.

Gatchalian has subsequently met with TNCs in different forums, urging them to provide their complete records so that all drivers could be accounted for in the program.

Among the various companies, Grab, Move It, and inDrive were named as the businesses with the most number of drivers that had issues with regards to claiming their P5,000.

In a since deleted post last Monday, March 30, inDrive stated that it had handed its full list of drivers in compliance with the guidelines set by the LTFRB.

It noted that the list underwent validation through requiring individual drivers to submit forms that verified their eligibility.

“We understand that some drivers were not included in the initial payout and we know how important this fuel support is for our partner drivers,” they said in their statement.

“We assure our partner drivers that we are actively coordinating with the LTFRB to clarify any discrepancies and assist in including them in the planned special payout,” it added.

Amid these controversies, it is the drivers and riders that remain caught in the middle.

According to the information released by LTFRB board member Greg Pua during a joint press conference on Monday, roughly 100,000 transport network vehicle service and motorcycle taxi drivers have yet to receive their respective subsidies.

Aside from them, various reports have come out stating that there remains plenty of tricycle drivers and jeepney drivers that were also left out of the initial payouts.

Gatchalian, however, assured that these individuals were still going to receive their share in the planned special payouts which is also set to take place after the holiday.