Food delivery riders decry zero ayuda, seek wealth tax for the rich

A group of food delivery riders on Thursday decried the absence of government subsidies for their sector amid the exponential rise in oil prices, saying the situation has already left them overworked just to make ends meet. 

“Ang mga riders po, until now, particularly ang food delivery riders, hindi po nakakatanggap ng anumang ayuda from the government. Kaya sana po, as soon as possible, mabigyan na po kami. Kasi antagal na po ito,almost two months na po,” Lemmuel Cabantog of the National Union of Food Delivery Riders said in a press conference.

(Delivery riders, particularly food delivery riders, have not yet received any assistance from the government. So we hope that we receive aid as soon as possible. Because it has been almost two months [since the start of the Iran war that has raised oil prices].)

“Marami po sa amin, nahihirapan na po magtrabaho dahil sa taas ng fuel prices. Doble po ang tinaas nito eh. Before, pag nagpa-full tank kami, P250. Ngayon, nasa P500. Doble po. Ang nangyayari po ngayon, para makuha namin yung panggastos namin, pangkain namin, ng aming pamilya, kailangan namin doblehin din yung oras inilalaan sa hanapbuhay,” Cabantog added.

(Many of us are finding it very difficult because of the rise in fuel prices. They have doubled. A full tank of diesel used to cost us P250; now it is at P500. Now, so that we can earn enough money for expenses, for food, for our families, we have to double our work hours.)

Cabantog said that from working for eight to 10 hours a day, they are now forced to work as much as 16 hours.

“Ngayong, umaabot na po kami ng 16 hours, halos doble. Iyon po ay sapat na para aming pamilya, maintenance ng motorsiklo, mobile phone load na kailangan namin para makipag-communicate kami sa mga customers namin. Apektadong-apektado po kami at nakakalungkot po na up to now, ang mga food delivery riders po ay wala pa pong natatanggap na ayuda from the government,” Cabantog pointed out.

(We now work for as much as 16 hours for us to earn enough for our families, spend for the maintenance of our motorcycles and the mobile phone load that we need to communicate to our customers. We are badly affected, and it is sad that up to now, food delivery riders have not yet received any assistance.)

He added that while it is the task of the platform or the firm where they serve as independent contractors to submit the list of qualified food delivery riders to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the payout, they have yet to hear from the platform if their names have already been submitted.

“Hanggang ngayon, wala pa kaming update,” he said.

(We don't have an update on that.)

Wealth tax

As such, Cabantog said they are joining Akbayan party-list Representative Perci Cendaña in pushing for the imposition of a wealth tax under House Bill 4304 of the Solidarity Contribution Act.

The measure imposes a wealth tax rate of 1.5% up to 3% on individuals whose net worth exceed P300 million. 

Likewise, the bill mandates that the tax revenue raised from the proposal, estimated to reach P78 billion from the top 15 richest Filipinos on the Forbes list alone, would be used on specific items such as climate change adaptation, universal healthcare, quick response fund, among others.

“Kami po ay 100% na sumusuporta sa wealth tax nito dahil sa totoo lang po, kami po nagpapayaman sa mga kampanyang to. Kami po ang dahilan kung bakit sila mayaman at maalwal sa buhay kahit may mga crisis pa na nangyayari sa ating bansa. Hindi sila apektado sa krisis dahil sa yaman na binibigay namin sa kanila,” Cabantog said.

(We support the wealth tax because we make these firms rich...they live so well despite the crisis because we make them rich.)

“Kaya nararapat lamang na sila mag-ambag din ng malaki para naman sa amin,” Cabantog added.

(They should pay it forward and pay wealth tax so they can contribute to our well-being.)

Caren Martinez of the Small Entrepreneur for Livelihood Development Association in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan backed Cabantog’s call, saying that paying the wealth tax won’t burden the rich to begin with.

“Narito po ako para ipahayag po ang aming pagsuporta sa pagsulong ng dagdag-tax po sa mga mayayaman. Hindi naman po lingid sa ating lahat na sila po ang labis-labis na yaman. Higit po sa sobra-sobra po ang layo po ng agwat nila sa aming mga mahihirap na manggagawa," she said. 

(We are here to call for the imposition of wealth tax on the rich. We all know that we have so much money, and their earnings are miles away from the poor workers.)

"Hindi po ito (wealth tax) makakaapekto sa pang-araw-araw nilang pangpagbuhayan kasi po sila ay may higit pa sa sapat. Malayong malayo po [ang kita nila] sa aming mga mahihirap na ang kinikita ay sapat lamang sa mga pangunahing pangangailangan namin na minsan ay kapos pa, lalo na po ngayon na may krisis sa langis. Kaya po sa ating pamahalaan, sa ating Pangulo [Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.]  na sana po ito ay maisakatuparan at ipakita po nila na sila ay para sa kapakanan po ng mamamayan, hindi po sa kapakanan ng iilan lamang,"she added.

(Paying an additional wealth tax won't hurt them because they have more than enough. They earn so much more than us who only earn enough for our basic needs, and there are even times when our earnings are not sufficient to cover for our basic needs due to oil crisis. The President should support this wealth tax measure to show that he is for the welfare of the people, not of the few.) — BM, GMA News