Grab, Move It can file motion to appeal partnership deferment —DOTr exec

Ride-hailing platforms Grab and Move It can appeal the deferment of their partnership on offering motorcycle taxi hailing services through the Grab app, a top official of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said Tuesday.

Interviewed on state-run PTV’s Laging Handa, Transportation Assistant Secretary for Special Concerns and Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (I-ACT) chief Manuel Gonzales said the DOTr’s Motorcycle Taxi Technical Working Group (TWG) initially allowed Grab and Move It to collaborate to use Grab’s application to let customers avail Move It’s motorcycle taxi service.

“Dapat ire-redirect ng Grab ito sa Move It. Ganoon po ang  naging agreement nito (Grab should direct service requests to Move It. This was the agreement),” Gonzales said.

Last week, the DOTr said it has ordered the deferment of Grab and Move It’s partnership, citing violations of the provisions of their agreement.

The TWG said the following were the violations:

• Grab’s application instead of Move It's application was used to avail, book, and pay for the ride services
• the entire process of training, driver onboarding, marketing, issuance of official receipts and the use of the Grab Driver app was all undertaken by Grab.

Move It and Grab Philippines have partnered to offer motorcycle taxi hailing services through the Grab app.

Both companies planned to make available Move It’s motorcycle taxi hailing services on Grab’s app starting September 23, 2021.

“Hindi po natupad iyong agreement na iyon. Instead iyong Grab po, sila na lahat ang gumagawa ng mga transaction, booking, at saka iyong sa mga payment. In short iyong transaction hindi na po nasunod, dapat ire-redirect po nila iyon sa Move It,” Gonzales said.

(The agreement was not followed. Instead, Grab processed all transactions, booking, as well as payments. In short, the agreement was not followed when transactions are supposed to be redirected to Move It.)

Nonetheless, Gonzales said the TWG is still evaluating the partnership on how both can rectify their violations.

“Ito po ay maaaring mag-appeal po sila or mag-ano ng [motion for] reconsideration, kung just in case ma-comply nila iyong mga unang agreement na nagawa na po nila,” he said.

(They can appeal or file a motion for reconsideration, just in case they can comply with their initial agreement.)

In an earlier statement, Grab Philippines said it, together with Move It, is “currently engaging with our regulators, and we look forward to resuming our partnership soon.”

Move It, meanwhile, cried “bullying” as it claimed that the deferment of its partnership with Grab “was orchestrated by a number of stakeholders in the Motorbike Taxi Pilot.”

Move It, despite the temporary deferment of its partnership, expressed hope to continue its venture with Grab.

The company said it has been transparent and forthcoming with its dealings with the TWG and other stakeholders, noting that its partnership with Grab has gone through several rounds of discussions with the TWG.—AOL, GMA News