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A Filipino Taxi Driver Was Arrested After Charging $115 for a 15-Minute Ride

The actual fare should have been under $5.
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Photo via Wikimedia Commons and Flickr user Trishhhh

It’s tough driving a cab in Metro Manila. Oil prices are up, traffic is terrible, and competition is fierce. At a time where taxis are being edged out by ride-sharing options such as Grab and motorcycle transport service Angkas, some drivers have been driven to participate in the age-old game of the airport taxi scam.

This latest case involves a Filipino driver, one Eugene Del Rosario, who charged a group of Chinese nationals more than 40 times the usual rate for a 6-kilometer ride.

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The Ninoy Aquino International Airport MIAA (Manila International Airport Authority) shared a press release on Facebook stating that Rosario scammed Wang Wei and her friends out of approximately $115 for a trip between airport terminal 3 to terminal 1—a ride which would have taken around 15 minutes. Rosario offered the "discounted" flat rate to the group after they boarded his vehicle.

“Not knowing what to do and for fear of missing their flight back to China, they just paid the [money] and sought help from the T1 Terminal police station to complain,” the MIAA said.

Taking Metro Manila's taxi fare matrix and the distance between the two locations into account, Wei’s group would only have had to pay around 140 Philippine pesos, or $3.

Rosario was later found lining up in the Terminal 3 taxi station the same afternoon. Authorities found the money in his possession. He was also found to have been driving without a driver’s permit. Del Rosario was previously arrested last month for illegal parking, where his license was confiscated.

Authorities are waiting for Wei to file a formal complaint to file a case against the driver. But this might not happen soon as she and her group has already flown back to China.

While scammers have plagued the public’s perception of taxi drivers for years, there are some good Samaritans out there, too. Last year, a driver returned almost $18,000 to a passenger who left a bag at the backseat of his cab.