ABOUT P2.7-billion in public funds could’ve been erroneously released through digital payouts intended for the motorcycle taxi riders had it not been for the discovery of the lists which Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian called junks.
During a recent House Committee on Transportation hearing chaired by Rep. Franz Pumaren, the feisty Gatchalian said that billions of pesos could have been misallocated due to the so-called ‘ghost riders’ that appeared from the beneficiary lists.
The discrepancies stem from the absence of a verified or “clean” beneficiary list prior to payout.
Unlike in the previous payouts in which the agency conducted its own validation, the current dataset was sourced from external entities, including the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and transport network companies, raising serious data integrity concerns.
The DSWD chief cited widespread inconsistencies including duplicate entries, variations in names, incomplete personal details, and conflicting birthdates.
These issues are particularly prevalent among app-based riders operating across multiple platforms, where a single individual may appear multiple times under slightly altered identities, Gatchalian said.
To prevent this, he said, the agency has enforced manual verification, requiring beneficiaries to appear in person and present valid identification—allowing officials to filter out questionable entries before disbursement.
Further raising red flags, the top DSWD official said that about 20% of listed beneficiaries have yet to claim their aid, fueling suspicions that some entries may not correspond to real individuals.
In huddle with Good Riddance, motorcycle rights advocate Jobert Bolaños, challenged the explanation of mere data discrepancies, telling lawmakers that the scale points to deliberate over-declaration.
Bolaños cited one platform that allegedly submitted over 200,000 rider entries despite having a declared cap of only around 15,000—suggesting the presence of “ghost riders.”
He warned that if each questionable entry received ₱5,000, the potential exposure could reach ₱1-billion.
Even after data cleaning, the number of listed riders still far exceeds platform limits, indicating systemic flaws in data submission and oversight, he stressed.
Pumaren added that a deeper congressional probe is needed to determine accountability, particularly among platforms responsible for submitting rider data.
