MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Following the Philippine Competition Commission’s order, ride-hailing giant Grab Philippines will be distributing refund worth P19.2 million to passengers starting Tuesday, December 31.

In a statement on Thursday, December 26, Grab said that the refund would cover passengers who have taken trips with their sedan service GrabCar during the following periods:

• February 10 to May 10: P1 for every total accumulated fare of P1,200, with a maximum cap of P120 for 2.7 million passengers;
• May 11 to August 10: P1 for every total accumulated fare of P450, with a maximum cap of P370 for 2.8 million passengers.

The total accumulated fare covers all the GrabCar sedan service trips of a passenger during the specified periods.

The refund will be disbursed through the passengers’ GrabPay wallet accounts, after accomplishing a basic “Know-Your-Customer” (KYC) process in the GrabRewards catalogue.

Those who have yet to go through the basic KYC process will have to submit personal information such as his or her full name, email, date and place of birth, ID number, and home addresses, as part of the requirements by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Grab said that the disbursement is computed from the proportion of the total fare of the passengers within the time period, then multiplied by the total fine to be disbursed.

The PCC slapped Grab close to P40-million in fines for its failure to comply with its price commitments. Twice this year, Grab was also ordered by the anti-trust body to refund passengers for violating its price undertaking.

In November, PCC said that Grab exceeded the allowable deviation in pricing before it acquired Uber, therefore ordering a P5.05-million refund.

In December, PCC fined Grab another P16.15 million for its “extraordinary deviation” from 2018 prices, P14.15 million of which ordered to be refunded to its passengers.

Grab remains the dominant ride-hailing company in the Philippine market, following its acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asia business in March 2018. Several new firms cropped up, but they have yet to make a significant difference in the market. – Rappler.com