MANILA, Philippines — A bill seeking to protect delivery riders from joy buyers through promoting cashless transactions and by not allowing the cancellation of orders once they are already in transit has again been filed at the House of Representatives.
Rep. Bernadette Herrera (Bagong Henerasyon Party-list) refiled the proposed “Magna Carta of E-Commerce Delivery Personel,” which also lays down penalty fees and jail time for erring customers.
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“In order to increase efficiency and protect the welfare of delivery riders whose lives put at stake to keep us safe within our homes, this bill seeks to provide more secure measures to these service providers and penalize those who unreasonably and inconveniently cancel their orders upon delivery,” Herrera said in a statement on Sunday.
Herrera noted that delivery riders are “inadvertent frontliners” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, there are instances when customers cancel their confirmed orders on e-commerce platforms such as Grab, Lazada, and Shopee, leaving delivery riders with their unclaimed order and their unsettled bill.
Herrera notes that the “typical delivery rider” only earns P15,000 to P20,000.
The bill proposes that violaters or those who cancel confirmed orders upon delivery or those who cancel their orders even though their delivery rider already paid for it may be subjected to a one to three-month term behind bars on top of a fee from P10,000 to P50,000.
The customer will be required to reimburse the online seller and the delivery personnel at a rate double the order’s original price and delivery fee.
Meanwhile, the bill also seeks to impose penalties for those who cancel their online orders for pranking or for entertainment’s sake. They will be fined P100,000 to P150,000 and face jail time of one to three years.
This is on top of the required payment of damages to both the seller and the delivery providers, which will be determined by a court. The bill also imposes that a public apology be made by the joy buyer. — with a report from Xave Gregorio