CHRISTMAS came early for some 2,000 delivery riders in Cebu City as Mayor Raymond Garcia pledged to cover their accident insurance, waive their business permit fee for 2025, and grant an amnesty on unpaid penalties required to obtain a transportation license to operate in the city.Garcia delivered the pledge during a dialogue with over 250 motorcycle riders of food delivery app Grab and Food Panda, who had reached out to his office to intervene on their working conditions.
Garcia also said that he and Councilor Jun Alcover, who was at the dialogue organized by Aksyon Na Ta grassroots organization, have been negotiating with a local insurance underwriter to provide accident insurance for the thousands of habal-habal drivers in the city.But hearing directly from the delivery riders prompted Garcia to include them in the accident insurance coverage, which he plans to pay with his own personal funds.“I am not going to ask for the city to pay for this.