By Prince Golez
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has secured an investment commitment from ride-hailing service Grab, which could result in the creation of 500,000 jobs.
Marcos Jr. met with officials from Grab Holdings Inc. on February 2 in Malacañang to discuss Grab’s recommendations for modernizing transportation in the Philippines.
Grab CEO and co-founder Anthony Tan assured the President that his company will deliver on its promise to create jobs in the country.
“Well, that is what we need. At the very start of all of this, we had always stressed that what we have to do is create jobs right now. Because so many businesses closed, so many people really have no place to go, even the OFWs. So… we need to find jobs,” Marcos Jr. said in response to Tan.
“So we’ve been able to do that but it’s still continuing… because our unemployment rate is not bad, but we’d like to keep bringing it down,” he added.
The Chief Executive said his government has created nearly 2 million jobs since then, resulting in a drop in the country’s unemployment rate.
“That’s why I’m in a hurry. If we can roll this out as quickly as possible. And I know the way Grab moves, they move very, very quickly. Because you’ve done it so many times before. In the scale, you don’t have to scale it. You’ve scaled it already,” said Marcos Jr.
Grab’s motorcycle taxis do four, five million rides per day, Tan told the President, adding that it’s just a matter of unshackling things so the company can soar even higher.
The ride-hailing service company needs to find a way how to create jobs, not only in Manila but also in Davao, Cebu, and Iloilo, he furthered.
Congress must enact a law to create the rule for motorcycle taxis or for the two-wheel side after the country adopted a law for four-wheel transport, transport officials said.
Several bills have been proposed to regulate and legalize the operation of motorcycle taxis as public utility vehicles in order to ensure the stakeholders’ safety and protection.
Grab, which began operations in the Philippines in July 2013, is proposing the legalization of motorized taxis, citing four years of pilot testing of motorized taxis.
The use of motorcycles to transport passengers or freight is prohibited by law, but requests to review the policy and allow motorcycles to be used as a mode of public transportation prompted the transportation department to pilot test motorcycle taxis in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu in 2019.
