Duterte warns taxi drivers: Not giving change is extortion

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with Lawyer Salvador Panelo. JULLIANE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net file photo

“It is extortion or illegal exaction.”

That was presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte’s warning to taxi drivers who refuse to give their passengers exact change.

“Yung mga taxi both dito sa Davao pati sa Maynila, alam mo pag kinuha mo pera ng tao dahil wala kang sinsilyo (coins or change) at di mo binalik, that is estafa,” he said during a televised press conference in Davao City on Monday.

(To the taxi drivers both here in Davao and in Manila, you should know that if you take the money of a person because you do not have change and you do not return it, that is estafa.)

“It is not a simple violation. I already told the drivers here,” he said in a mix of Filipino and English. “It is not your money and you go away with it.”

The tough-talking mayor of Davao City said drivers who do not have loose change should not go out to work.

“It behooves upon the taxi company now to provide the drivers with loose changes at the start of the day,” he said.

He also advised commuters to “try to figure out the amount that you would have to pay to reach your destination.”

He said drivers without loose change can just go to a nearby store and have their paper bills converted to coins and smaller denominations. –Kristine Angeli Sabillo, RAM/rga