Gov't urged to review Grab-Move It deal; motorcycle taxi firm decries allegations

Transportation advocacy groups on Thursday urged the government to review Grab Philippines' acquisition of motorcycle taxi firm Move It.

At a press briefing in Quezon City, transport groups Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection, National Public Transport Coalition, ARANGKADA Riders Alliance, and Digital Pinoys signed a petition addressed to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s (LTFRB) inter-agency technical working group (TWG) in charge of conducting the pilot test of motorcycle taxi services in the country.

Early last month, Grab Philippines announced that it acquired Move It for an undisclosed amount. 

Grab said that despite the acquisition, Move It will continue to operate as a separate entity and use its own platform.

Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection Ariel Inton said the root cause of their concern is that the pilot study has been ongoing for more than three years and it “seems that the deal between Grab and Move It is designed for Grab to have instant accreditation by virtue of its acquisition of Move It which was granted accreditation by the TWG.”

Inton said the acquisition of Move It should not mean that Grab has automatically acquired the TWG accreditation given to Move It.

“It should not mean that when a TWG-accredited company withdraws or shows that it is no longer interested in operating a motorcycle taxi service, very much like the planned sale of Move It to Grab, the accreditation is automatically transferred,” Inton said.

Not transferred

In a separate statement, Move IT said that while Grab acquired the company its “accreditation remains its own and does not transfer to Grab.”

Move It said it is a legitimate and law-abiding participant in the MC taxi pilot study, and “we stand for democratizing MC taxi service to serve more Filipinos.”

“Regardless of its ownership, Move It maintains its own corporate identity and branding under the leadership of its Chairman Mr. Francis Juan. Given the transition of government, we prudently and proactively informed all relevant government agencies — based on our rigorous legal due diligence,” Move It added.

The motorcycle taxi firm said the allegations against Grab and Move It are “an attempt to keep Move It so small that it would not pose any competition to the two other operators.”

Justification

For his part, national convenor and chairman of the National Public Transport Coalition Ariel Lim said there must be a justification of the sale made to the TWG, as Move It is under the jurisdiction of the government inter-agency group.
He added that this is so the legality of the sale, and the alleged subsequent automatic granting of the accreditation, can be studied.

Last year, Grab announced a partnership with Move It that enabled the latter’s motorcycle taxi hailing services to be booked through the Grab app.

The partnership, however, was stopped by the Department of Transportation’s Motorcycle Taxi Technical Working Group (TWG), saying the collaboration violated provisions of the motorcycle taxi pilot study.

The TWG said this is because Grab’s application, instead of Move It's application, was used to avail, book, and pay for the ride services; and because 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.

The TWG also said that the motorcycle taxi study does not include a fourth player. The three players included in the motorcycle taxi pilot study are Angkas, JoyRide, and Move It.

The TWG said Grab, through the collaboration, was able to find inclusion in the study as a “de facto” member, which could have given the impression that Move It relinquished its operations to Grab.

On its acquisition of Move It, Grab Philippines said that it has its “thorough due diligence” before the transaction was concluded.

Grab said that there are no legal impediments to the transaction, as long as Grab and Move It comply with the motorcycle taxi pilot study’s regulations.  —KBK, GMA News