Senator Manuel Lapid on Tuesday proposed the adoption of a reimbursement scheme to help food and grocery delivery riders who are exposed to unjustified cancellation of orders and so-called fake bookings.

        ‘’Ang paghahabol ng bayad sa mga kustomer para sa mga kanseladong orders ay dapat responsibilidad na ng kumpanya o ng service provider (The responsibility of going after customers of cancelled orders must rest on the companies or service providers),’’ Lapid said.

         Lapid stated this in his opening statement during a public hearing by the Senate trade committee chaired by Senator Aquilino Pimentel III on his Senate Bill 1677, or the Food and Grocery Delivery Services Protection Act.’’      

‘’Para maiwasan ang mga ganitong pangyayari kagaya ng mga madalas na pagkakansela o fake orders, inaatasan din ang mga kumpanya o mga service providers na magtalaga ng mas masusing pagkilala sa kanilang mga customer (To avoid such fake or cancelled orders, companies or service providers must adopt strict procedures to know their customers better), he said.

“Nais din parusahan sa ilalim ng panukalang batas na ito ang paulit ulit at madalas na pagkansela ng mga orders pagkatapos itong mabayaran ng ating mga riders (We also want prosecuted those who make repeated cancellations of orders after paying these riders),’’ he added.

Lapid noted that there has been an increased use of deliveries of food and groceries because consumers fear leaving their houses because of COVID-19 lockdowns.

In his statement, Lapid said that there have been numerous incidents reported in the news that these delivery riders have been exposed to unjustified cancellation of orders and these so-called “fake bookings”.

‘’These fraudulent acts result to unnecessary burden to our riders considering the fact that they have already advanced or paid the ordered items. To make matters worse, some of these cancelling customers cannot be traced and be held for collection as they use fake names and/or addresses,’’ he said.

‘’Fake bookings and unjustified cancellations of delivery orders despite the payment for such being already advanced or shouldered by the riders amount to outright theft of their hard-earned cash - obtained from plying our roads and streets day in and day out, even in the middle of the pandemic, just to serve the clients of their service providers. It is not just and proper to place the financial burden for this upon the riders,’’ he explained.

Lapid said those in the delivery business are being considered as one of the more important front line workers as they provide convenience and access to a large percentage of our population, despite all the health and safety risks they face just to earn a living.

He thus asked the support of his colleagues in passing his Senate bill.