President Rodrigo Duterte ordered an investigation of express delivery company J&T Express Philippines over alleged service irregularities.
At a late night televised address on June 30, Duterte threatened to shut down the company if the probe by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police confirms reports of irregularities, including missing packages. He also ordered the Bureau of Internal Revenue to look into J&T Express’ finances.
“As a courier, a company registered as a courier, I would like to — because of the so many complaints but I will close you down. Sigurado ‘yan sasarahan talaga kita (That’s for sure I will close you down) whether you like it or not after the CIDG and the NBI would finish their investigation and would point a liability sa inyo (to you),” Duterte said.
A video surfaced online recently of the staff of the courier company, which handles mainly e-commerce shipments, throwing packages inside a truck.
“It’s not really one or two incidents na tinapon ninyo (where you threw the cargo)…. it’s the lost cargo or cargo na pinalitan ninyo (that you replaced),” Duterte said.
“Iyong mga padala nawawala tapos pagdating, pinapalitan. Wala ng laman. (The cargoes first go missing and when they finally arrive they get replaced. They no longer contain anything.) I am not condemning you now. I am not also insinuating that you are liable or guilty of doing it. It would depend greatly on what is the result of the investigation,” he added.
J&T Express in an earlier online statement about the video said it does not “tolerate such acts and behavior, and we humbly take responsibility for this incident.”
It added, “We would also like to assure the public that this is an isolated case. All of our facilities, including our branches and warehouses across the country, are under 24/7 monitoring. We also follow strict protocols in handling the shipments and ensure that these are handled with proper care.”
The company said it has already identified the personnel involved in the video and they will be dealt with the proper sanctions.
J&T Express is an express delivery company established in Indonesia in 2015 and has operations in various countries in South East Asia. J&T Express Philippines was launched in March 2019 and is accredited with the Department of Information and Communications, which has jurisdiction over postal and courier delivery service providers.
