Grab pledges half a million jobs to Marcos

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 2) – Ride-hailing service Grab has made an investment pledge to the president which could translate to half a million jobs if legislation on motorcycle taxis is passed.

Grab Holdings Inc. and its Chief Executive Officer Anthony Tan met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday to recommend steps to modernize transportation. During the meeting, Grab gave an investment commitment that could result in the creation of 500,000 jobs.

The company said it was looking for a way to generate employment in Davao, Cebu, and Iloilo.

By passing legislation that legalizes motorcycle taxis – under pilot testing phase for the past four years -- the company said it could expand and create more jobs in the transportation space.

“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 [overseas Filipino workers]. So… we need to find jobs,” President Marcos said on Thursday.

RELATED: Jobless Filipinos down to 2.18M in November

“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,” he said.

The operation of motorcycle taxis has been limited by a pilot testing phase since 2019 to study the safety of the service.

Move It, a motorcycle taxi service backed by Grab, along with Angkas, and Joyride were the only three participants allowed to operate under the pilot phase.

Previously, Move It called for the passage of legislation to ratonalize the motorcycle taxi industry.

RELATED: Move it: Pass law on motorcycle taxis now 

The Department of Transportation has also pushed for the legalization of motorcycle taxis.

Meanwhile, Angkas also bared its plans to expand operations outside of Metro Manila and Cebu in 2023.

READ: Angkas bares plan to expand operations this year