Senior officials at the Commission on Human Rights and Sen. Risa Hontiveros are the latest victims of prank orders from several food businesses.
In a statement on November 23, the CHR stated that the orders were made last Monday and addressed to CHR commissioners even if no one booked for them.
“It was addressed to one of the CHR Commissioners and the sham order used our hotline number and public email address as contact details for the delivery. The food orders were meant to be paid upon delivery,” the commission said.
It then warned on legal actions to be taken should others commit the same “malicious” act to the commissioners.
“We sternly warn those who are thinking of doing the same and/or repeating this act that CHR will not hesitate in taking legal action to put this malicious act to a halt. We are already coordinating with appropriate law enforcement agencies and that investigation is underway to address the incident yesterday,” it said.
CHR hopes the perpetrators should be more considerate of delivery riders and workers most affected by these scams. The workers are often still reeling from the financial impact of the pandemic.
“Let us not use the struggles of others as objects of ridicule and entertainment. Let us continue to help each other in continuing to uphold the rights and dignity of all,” CHR said.
Hontiveros on the same day also denounced that an unidentified individual pretended to be her at Cebu’s Best Rico’s Lechon to order P18,300 worth of food.
The lawmaker shared screenshots of the email she received from the homegrown brand.
In the images, it was indicated that the order was paid through a direct bank transfer.
A note was also left hashtags that promoted President Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Franklin Drilon.
“PROTECT LOCAL BUSINESSES! May BAGONG MODUS ang mga gustong manira sa atin. Magpapanggap na ako at mag-oorder ng nakapangalan sa akin at sa address ng opisina ko. Kawawa ang mga negosyante, mga empleyado, at mga delivery riders na inaagrabrayado,” she said.
Hontiveros also gave a shout-out to the lechon restaurant with the hashtag #SupportLocal.
“Shout out narin sa RICO’S LECHON! Paborito ko pa naman ang lechon Cebu,” she said.
It was done to Robredo, too
The CHR and the senator disclosed the incidents after the Office of the Vice President decried being the recipient of multiple food orders worth P100,000.
Lawyer Barry Gutierrez, spokesperson of the vice president, shared on Monday, November 22 that someone pretended to Vice President Leni Robredo at MetroMart, an online grocery store and delivery service.
MetroMart immediately responded to this after. It appealed to the public to refrain from scamming Filipinos and the frontline delivery riders.
READ: OVP latest victim of prank order through grocery delivery service
This time, the Commission on Human Rights and Sen. Risa Hontiveros, also a senatorial reelectionist, revealed through their social media accounts that some food businesses have also contacted them for fraudulent orders.
On bogus orders from apps
Since last year, several reports surfaced of delivery riders being deceived or pranked by customers of food delivery apps.
READ: Food delivery rider a victim of prank order of milk teas from Malabon
In July, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, also a presidential aspirant, was pranked when several orders from a food delivery app worth P5,000 were delivered to his office.
Delivery riders would often receive these orders to be paid via cash-on-delivery method. These would turn out to be bogus.
Other cases involve providing them with wrong addresses or will not show up on the address pinned for the drivers.
So far, there’s no law yet dedicated to penalizing these fraudulent scams to protect service delivery personnel.
