Cabbie charged for threatening, hitting passenger

MANILA, Philippines - A taxi driver seen in a viral video heaping abuse on his passenger was charged before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office Wednesday night.

The prosecutor recommended that Roger Catipay, 37, be charged with slight physical injury and threat, based on the complaint filed by Joanna Garcia, a financial officer of Citibank, said Chief Inspector Rodel Marcelo, who heads the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD).

Garcia, in a Facebook post, said Catipay wanted her to pay P250 when the taxi fare meter read only P140 for a trip from SM North EDSA to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration in Mandaluyong City.

She said she handed P200 to Catipay, expecting him to give her P40 change – she was willing to give him P20 extra – but Catipay became rude. He cursed at her and hit her, prompting her to get out of the taxi.

Garcia has filed a complaint with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Eastern Police District (EPD) as the incident happened in Mandaluyong City, but Catipay was later on transferred to the QCPD because his offense was a “continuing crime,” LTFRB member Ariel Inton said.

Inton said Garcia filed charged with the QCPD as she rode from Quezon City and got off in Mandaluyong City. 

LTFRB chairman Winston Ginez issued a show cause order for Ariel Gamboa – the operator of the unit driven by Catipay – to explain why their franchise should not be cancelled or suspended over complaints on “contracting passenger, overcharging of fare, harassment/arrogant driver, and the driver making threats to the life of his passenger.”

Gamboa is required to attend a hearing on Monday before the LTFRB.

Ginez said the taxi involved in the incident will not be allowed to ply the streets until the case is resolved. Catipay will be blacklisted from the LTFRB’s database of authorized taxi drivers, he added.

The LTFRB also asked Land Transportation Office chief Roberto Cabrera “to evaluate” Catipay’s record to determine “whether or not the penalty of cancellation of the driver’s license is proper.”