DOTr orders online selling platforms to remove illegal Beep card vendors
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Wednesday formally asked online selling applications Carousell, Lazada, Meta Philippines, Shopee and TikTok to take down unauthorized sales or listings of Beep cards that remain on their platforms after it announced a crackdown on hoarders of the stored value tickets.
It noted that despite its Aug. 13 order for online selling platforms to delist illegal Beep card vendors, some continue to sell the fare cards for the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2.
“Please be informed that the continued proliferation of the stored value cards online is akin to engaging in unauthorized selling of Beep cards,” the DOTr told the five companies in its letter dated Aug. 26.
“Online selling platforms which continue to allow this unscrupulous act are complicit [in] the violations being committed by these hoarders, and may be held liable with the sellers if they fail to act on illegal activities on their platforms,” it warned.
Aug. 31 deadline
Any future attempts to post similar listings of Beep cards should also be prohibited on or before Aug. 31, the DOTr said.
“We shall continue to monitor related activities and if the same persists beyond the above date, the government will be constrained to immediately file the appropriate legal actions against your companies,” it added.
On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon announced that the DOTr will be going after those who hoard and resell Beep cards at higher prices, with CCTV cameras to be installed at train stations to catch violators in the act.
He defined hoarding as buying more than two cards at once as he presented to the media Cateleen Ann Dumondong Manalo, an online seller who was arrested by the police in an entrapment operation on Aug. 15.
Seized from her were a total of 50 Beep cards which she was reselling for P200 each, much higher than their original value of P30.
Manalo, according to the police, faces charges for violations of Republic Act No. 8484 or the Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998, and Article 50 of RA 7394 or the Consumer Act of the Philippines, both in relation to Section 6 of the Cybercrime Prevention
Act of 2012 or RA 10175.
Dizon said that more arrests would be made soon, adding that they wanted to send a “clear message to our countrymen who are abusing and taking advantage of their fellow Filipinos who just want to buy Beep cards.”
According to him, some 300,000 Beep cards were recently delivered to train stations to address an ongoing shortage but some people were hoarding and then reselling these online for a profit.
