Rider to mean cabbie: I’ll teach you a lesson

APOLOGY NOT ACCEPTED Garcia (left) and Catipay face off at the QCPD headquarters on Wednesday. ERIKA SAULER

Simply saying sorry can’t get him off the hook.

The taxi driver who was caught on video overcharging a passenger and bullying her when she refused to pay up apologized Wednesday when they met again at the Quezon City police headquarters.

But Joanna Garcia said she would press charges against Roger Catipay to teach him a lesson, saying drivers like him should be kept off the streets.

Catipay, she said, threatened and punched her when she refused to pay more than what his meter indicated. The incident happened Tuesday when she and a female companion took Catipay’s AFG taxicab (UWB 666) at SM North, Quezon City, and asked to be brought to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)  in Mandaluyong City.

Catipay and his operator, Ariel F. Gamboa, also face scrutiny at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), which set a hearing for Jan. 12. The board gave them five days to explain why Gamboa’s franchise should not be canceled because of Catipay’s actions.

LTFRB chair Winston Ginez said Catipay would be “blacklist(ed) in our database of authorized drivers” and that the board would recommend the revocation of his license.

The Quezon City Police District said Catipay, 37, may be sued for unjust vexation, physical injury and grave threats.

In faint, broken sentences, Catipay appealed to Garcia for forgiveness, saying his baby was sick. He maintained, however, that they agreed on a “flat rate” when she hired his cab and that the video doesn’t show him hurting her.

“I would have accepted your apology. But you’re denying everything and even twisting my words. I will give my statement, you give yours, and let’s continue with the legal process,” Garcia told him. “You have a child, I also have a child. But did you take pity on me when you did me wrong?”

The 45-second video has since gone viral. According to Garcia’s Facebook post, the driver asked for P350 when told of their destination but she insisted on using the meter. He haggled for P250, to which she replied: “I-metro mo. Ako na ang bahala (Use the meter. I’ll take care of it).” He then smiled and drove on.

Upon reaching POEA, the meter reading was around P145 and Garcia handed him P200. Catipay got angry and cursed them as he gave a P20 change.

Turned off by his rudeness, Garcia asked for the exact change. The driver then hit her when he noticed she was taking a video using her phone.

He even followed them out of the taxi and threatened to punch them again, she said.

Gamboa, the operator, said he never believed in “bad luck” but the problem caused by his driver made him notice some ominous numbers in his business: Of the 13 taxis in his fleet, two have plate numbers ending in “666”—including Catipay’s unit.

Catipay refused to undergo a drug test, saying he would first seek a lawyer’s advice.

Garcia, a finance officer, said she would have given Catipay a tip had he been kind that day—her father-in-law being a cab driver as well. But instead she would be avoiding taxi rides for the meantime after the incident left her “traumatized.”