July 3, 2025
MANILA – The Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group (PNP Avsegroup) said it has “volunteer taxi drivers” who help in apprehending colorum taxis and overcharging taxi drivers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) and other airports in the country.
In an interview with the INQUIRER.net on Wednesday, PNP Avsegroup acting director Brigadier General Jason Capoy said most of the volunteers were friends and relatives of their police personnel.
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“We have volunteers who are other taxi drivers, friends, relatives of the PNP troops. They are the ones who brought the news. They are the ones who report it to us. That’s why we just provide information with LTO (Land Transportation Office) and we just help them in enforcing the traffic rules,” Capoy explained.
“Not all [taxi drivers] want to overcharge, not all of them. We just teach the others a lesson,” he added.
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Capoy also said about 20 to 30 percent of the 46 public vehicles they apprehended at airports from June 25 to July 1 were due to the reports of their volunteer taxi drivers.
How volunteer taxi drivers report to PNP Avsegroup
According to Capoy, volunteer taxi drivers report colorum and overcharging incidents in airports directly to their “intelligence people on the ground” via calls or texts.
After receiving the report, the PNP Avsegroup will then immediately conduct a validation and verification.
“This is more on, this is a different approach. It is an intelligence-driven operation. It is not just the ones that were planted down; it is not. We have prior monitoring,” Capoy pointed out.
From June 25 to July 1, the PNP Avsegroup reported a total of 46 public utility vehicle apprehensions at Philippine airports — 28 PUVs, seven UV Expresses, and 11 “habal-habal” motorcycles.