Senators slam ‘ghost drivers’ receiving cash aid

MANILA, Philippines — From ghost projects to ghost drivers?

Senators yesterday slammed transport network vehicles services (TNVS) companies for their list of driver-beneficiaries with repetitive names, allowing some drivers to get aid more than once.

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian called these “ghost drivers” when he reported to senators the challenge of providing aid to driver-beneficiaries through digital platforms.

He said the “junk list” of driver-beneficiaries contained double names with minor differences – like with and without the suffix “Jr.” – allowing the driver to get aid twice if they seek aid through digital wallets.

The government would have lost up to P2.7 billion in social welfare aid if the department had not flagged these “ghost drivers,” Gatchalian said during the resumption of the PROTECT Middle East crisis hearing yesterday.

“What was promised to us is a clean list by the transport network companies. But in the course of doing the payout, we found duplicates, triplicates, errors in names,” Gatchalian said.

“Had we used e-wallets without batting an eyelash, we would have lost P2.7 billion of much needed resources that would have gone to ‘ghost riders and drivers,’” he added.

PROTECT ad hoc chair Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian slammed the TNVS companies for not cleaning up their list of driver-beneficiaries, resulting in confusion in payouts and long queues in distribution centers.

He recalled the death by heart attack of a motorcycle taxi rider last April 18 while lining up for aid in Quezon City.

Grab Philippines chief corporate affairs officer Sherielysse Bonifacio yesterday said the company apologizes and “takes accountability” for the “junk” list, saying the list has been corrected by providing a new, more comprehensive “historical list” of drivers.

Meanwhile, several local government units (LGUs) have officially declared a state of calamity to unlock emergency funds and mitigate the economic impact caused by the global oil crisis.

Gatchalian identified several LGUs that have declared a state of calamity, including Zamboanga City, Baguio City, Ajuy in Iloilo, New Lucena in Iloilo, Bongao in Tawi-Tawi, Cagayan de Oro City and Cagayan.

In another development, the retail prices of rice could surge up to P62 per kilo by September due to the soaring cost of fertilizers, the Department of Agriculture said.

As for repatriations, over 7,900 overseas Filipino workers and their dependents have returned to the Philippines from March 5 to April 28, as tensions continue in parts of the Middle East, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said. — Neil Jayson Servallos, Christine Boton, Jose Rodel Clapano