The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) expresses its solidarity with the delivery riders of Food Panda who are questioning the online food delivery platform’s unauthorized collection of taxes from them. We demand that Food Panda stop the collection of said payments and return the money that it has collected to its riders.

In a Bilyonaryo News Channel news report, Food Panda riders, represented by the National Union of Food Delivery Riders or RIDERS-SENTRO, and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) are questioning Food Panda’s collection of 2% withholding tax from its riders. The riders claimed that the company did not present any document from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) certifying that the taxes deducted from the riders were actually remitted.

The report says the withholding tax may reach P300 per month depending on the riders’ income. Given Food Panda’s 4,000 riders nationwide, this translates to P13 million per month, or P158 million every year. This practice raises serious doubts about illegal deductions, misrepresentation and widespread financial abuse.

RIDERS-SENTRO said that the alleged withholding tax is an added burden to Food Panda’s riders, who also shoulder payments for gasoline, motorcycle maintenance, and hospitalization and damage caused by accidents at work. It also said that there is no clarity as to the breakdown of the delivery fee that the riders receive, enabling the company to arbitrarily set the payments to the riders.

According to law, workers do not need to pay withholding taxes if they earn less than P20,833 a month. A P300 withholding tax means that the rider is earning P15,000 a month, which should not be covered by withholding tax.

We condemn the illegal collection of taxes being carried out by Food Panda among its riders. This is a most unwarranted addition to the burden being borne by the riders. This appears to be a most brazen and ugly scheme to increase profits to the detriment of workers and their rights.

Platform companies like Food Panda are using the most advanced technologies to speed up consumers’ access to food and other goods and services. Yet they continue to employ old-school exploitative practices that seem to be out of touch with the realities of their riders and labor rights.

We call on the government to ensure that working conditions in the country’s platform sector adhere to labor rights standards. Platform companies are earning a lot with minimal investment and should at the very least ensure that the riders who do the hard work enjoy decent working conditions.