Bill seeking to protect delivery riders from bogus buyers filed at Senate

MANILA, Philippines – A bill seeking to protect online sellers and delivery riders from scams has been filed by Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito.

Ejercito on Monday said this bill comes amid reports of text spams, scams, and what he defined as “pranks” that include promos and the like that affect and dupe online businesses and riders.

“Because of the online business, ang daming mga prankster, marami ding nanloloko. Kawawa naman yung mga delivery riders pati online sellers kasi minsan ang daming orders tapos ayaw bayarin o kaya wala naman yung nag order,” he said in a press conference.

(Because of online businesses, there are many pranksters and instances of fraud. It’s sad when delivery riders and online sellers are duped because orders do not get paid or claimed.)

Under the proposed law, those who provide food, grocery, and pharmacy delivery services are prohibited from requiring delivery riders or drivers to pay an advance payment for the fulfillment of orders.

If a confirmed order gets canceled, “the food, grocery, and pharmacy delivery service provider shall still pay the delivery riders or drivers for the service fee.”

The canceling customers, in turn, shall compensate the service provider.

Service providers who are found guilty of asking for advance payments from riders will be penalized with a fine of at least P100,000 and revoked their licenses and permits.

Meanwhile, the customers would be asked to submit proof of identity and their residential address to verify their identity.

They are prohibited from using another person’s personal information; canceling confirmed orders unless allowed by the food, grocery, and pharmacy delivery; placing a hoax order; and refusing to receive unpaid orders.

Customers who will be found committing these acts will likewise be penalized with a fine of at least P100,000 and may be jailed from one month and one day to six months.

“Dapat siguro online na din ‘yung payment bago tayo magpadeliver. Siguro ‘yun ‘yung possible kasi sila muna nagbabayad ng mga orders natin bago natin sila i-reimburse with the delivery fee,” he added.

(Maybe payments should be done online before it gets delivered because riders pay for our orders first before we reimburse them with the delivery fee.)

The senator was also resolute that the subscriber identity module (SIM) Card Registration bill could help prevent text scams by quickly providing a person’s information.

“Siguro kung may sim card registration, mapeprevent na natin yung mga pranksters kasi alam na natin yung mga numbers, alam na natin yung identity”, Ejercito said.

(Maybe if there is a sim card registration law, we can prevent pranksters because we already know their numbers and identity.)

He said they would conduct a hearing about his bill to invite stakeholders, delivery riders, food services companies, and customers to address their concerns.

And in a separate answer, the senator said that the committee on public services headed by Sen. Grace Poe would soon conduct a hearing on the SIM card registration.

READ: Poe backs mandatory SIM card registration amid ‘personalized’ text scams

— Catherine Dabu, INQUIRER.net trainee