Grab driver accused of taking inappropriate photos of sleeping passenger

A female passenger has filed a complaint before the National Bureau of Investigation against a Grab driver for allegedly taking inappropriate photos of her while sleeping during her ride home.

The Grab driver and the complainant faced off during a hearing at the NBI on Monday morning.

Moises Tamayo, head of the NBI's Special Task Force, said the driver may face charges for violation of the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act and the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

Tamayo added that Grab Philippines may have civil liability over the supposed incident, but it could only be determined by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in a parallel probe.

The complainant, identified by the NBI only as Celine, said that her friend booked a Grab ride for her after they had a drinking spree in Malabon City at around 5 a.m. on April 13.

Celine claimed she fell asleep during the ride, and when she woke up she asked the driver where they were. He said he did not know, so Celine just asked him to drive her back to her pick-up point in Malabon.

When they arrived in Malabon City, the driver allegedly asked her to pay P500, instead of the P344 booking fee, insisting that they already made a round trip.

Celine said she then realized that she had no money with her so she had to knock at her friend's house to borrow money to pay for her fare. But her friend could not be awakened and her phone battery was already empty, so she asked if she could borrow the driver's phone to contact her friend.

Celine said she used the driver's phone to log in to her Facebook Messenger account, but forgot to log out.

It was only after she got home when she found out that someone had used her Messenger account and chatted with a certain Rodolfo del Rosario, who later turned out to be the driver's operator.

She said the driver apparently sent photos of her sleeping, underwear visible, to Del Rosario.

The accompanying messages allegedly said: "Pre dyan muna sayu to lasing ee," and "Hahaha sarap tulog pasahero ko pre."

After the hearing, Celine said she did not expect she would be so scared to see the driver again.

The driver had apologized to her, but she did not find it to be sincere.

"Parang bumalik lahat ng una kong naramdaman when I saw the pictures... 'Di ko na-expect na sobrang matatakot [ako] na makita lang siya. Nag-sorry nga po siya dahil napagkatuwaan niya lang daw po, so ibig sabihin hindi daw yun kabastos-bastos kasi napagkatuwaan niya lang daw ako. I don't think it was a sincere apology," she said.

The complainant said she will pursue the case against the Grab driver, who had been "deactivated" by Grab Philippines.

"It was my decision na itutuloy ko 'yung case against him... I think he think it's just a joke. It's not. It's a really big issue for me. Binastos niya kasi 'yung pagkababae ko. I really had to think it over talaga and I think it's the right thing na sampahan siya ng kaso."

The driver declined to comment on the allegation that he took the pictures, but denied he took Celine's P500.

Meanwhile, Tamayo advised the riding public to inform their relatives or friends of their ride details -- the plate number of the car and photo of the driver -- and to immediately report untoward incidents to law enforcement authorities. —ALG/NB, GMA News