Delivery and platform riders working for companies including Foodpanda, Ninja Van, Flash, and Lalamove are closer to getting formal labor protections after Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino said Thursday he has begun individual negotiations with each company toward a labor advisory that will define the rights, benefits, and grievance mechanisms available to gig workers in the Philippines.
Tolentino made the disclosure in an interview on DZRH News program The Situation Report on September 10, saying the advisory to be issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will fill a gap left by the Gig Economy Law he authored as a senator in 2021, which was never passed into law.
He said the number of platform and delivery riders in the Philippines is larger than most people realize, and that these workers currently have no clear legal framework governing their relationship with the platforms they work for, including what benefits they are entitled to, where they can file complaints, and how disputes are resolved.
“Ang mga platform riders natin, ang nagdedeliver ng pagkain. Ano ang karapatan nila? Saan sila pwedeng magreklamo? Ano ang mga benefits nila? And you’ll be surprised, ang dami pala nito,” Tolentino said.
He said his approach is to meet with each company individually before convening them together in a single industry convention, recognizing that they are commercial competitors who may resist being brought to the same table too early.
“Kinakausap ko na si Foodpanda, kinakausap ko si Ninja Van, kinakausap ko na si Flash, si Lalamove. So siguro isang isa o dalawa pang parang convention ng lahat, kasi magkakalaban naman ‘yang mga ‘yan, gagawin nating isang industriya,” Tolentino said.
He said once consensus is reached across the companies, DOLE will issue a labor advisory that effectively creates a regulatory framework for the gig economy in the Philippines, giving riders legal standing they currently lack.
