Have you tried ordering food in bulk on Grab Food for a special occasion, such as Valentine's Day, only to have certain merchants reject your order because it exceeded the cost of P1,000?

Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers finds no sense in this set-up.

"A humble suggestion to Grab Food: please don't carry merchants or restaurants that impose a low limit or cap on food orders," Barbers said after hearing the complaints of some of the popular app's patrons.

"Some merchants impose a limit of just P1,000 and for customers making bulk orders, this simply isn't enough," noted the veteran solon. He did not identify the merchants or restaurants.

Barbers further slammed these particular merchants for asking customers to do another booking with them just so they could complete their bulk order.

"The solution offered by these merchants is to do multiple bookings. But that is impractical and defeats the purpose of convenience by ordering through the app especially if there's a special occasion like a birthday party," he said.

"Talo ang customer! Dapat maayos ito (The customer loses in this! This must be fixed)," the Mindanao lawmaker stressed.

According to Barbers, the amount of food that a delivery rider can carry in one order should be the dependent on the rider, and not the restaurant.

"I think that if there is any good reason to impose a cap on food orders, it should be based on the amount of food the rider can physically carry, and not on the cost of the food order," he said.