E-marketplaces given deadline to remove illegal Beep card listings

Metro Manila, Philippines - The Department of Transportation (DOTr) gave a deadline to online selling platforms to remove unauthorized listings of Beep cards, warning they may face legal actions if they do not comply.

In a letter dated Aug. 26, Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon told online marketplaces to take down these listings on or before Aug. 31.

Dizon said the DOTr already issued the order on Aug. 13 but it has observed that several merchants continued to sell unauthorized Beep cards on the virtual selling sites, particularly Carousell, Lazada, Meta Philippines, Shopee, and TikTok.

“Please be informed that the continued proliferation of the stored value cards (SVC) online is akin to engaging in authorized selling of Beep Cards,” read the letter.

“Online selling platforms which continue to allow this unscrupulous act are complicit to the violations being committed by these hoarders, and may be held liable with the sellers if they fail to act on illegal activities,” Dizon said.

On Tuesday, Dizon led a joint press conference with the Land Transportation Office and the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group, where they presented a woman arrested for allegedly reselling overpriced Beep cards online at P200 each. 

In most stations, commuters can buy a Beep card or stored value card for P100 with an automatic P70 load from tellers or self-service ticket vending machines.

Dizon said there are “syndicates” buying 10 Beep cards at a time from ticket vending machines and selling them online.

He assured that there’s no shortage of Beep cards, with the DOTr delivering 300,000 additional cards across MRT-3, LRT-1, and LRT-2.