Ever since GrabCar came into the Philippines, my life, when I’m in Manila, became tolerable.

Today I was catching my flight to New Zealand after a hectic, sleepless week. I booked GrabCar for my airport ride. This I always do and I strongly recommend for airport transport.

The driver and I had a good chat during the drive. At the airport, he helped me with my bags before taking off. I rated him 5 stars.

As soon as I entered the airport after the baggage scans, I realized I forgot my hand carry luggage in the backseat of his car. My groggy self woke up instantly!

I weighed my options, knowing it was GrabCar, I didn’t panic. I couldn’t get hold of my driver because once you ended a trip in the GrabApp, you won’t have access to personal numbers anymore.

I only had 2 hours before my scheduled departure so I lined up for check-in first. I tried getting hold of Grab Support online but to no avail. I couldn’t make a call either because I had no credits left on my phone.

But I did know they have a Grab Booth in Arrivals because I use this service all the time when I fly home.

After checking in and paying my travel tax, I went down to Arrivals and asked helped from these 2 helpful Grab Staff members.

They found and contacted the driver for me. He wasn’t aware I still had a bag inside his car and was willing to come back. No arguments, no complaints. He even had the initiative to call me every few minutes to update me on his route.

It was hot outside and I was sweating so bad. I waited by the Police Information Desk and the officers were kind enough to make me stand by the door so I get cooled by the air conditioner from inside. Yey, NAIA, your airport staff attitude has greatly improved this year!

After an hour since my drop-off and 30 minutes after we contacted my driver, he finally arrived with my luggage. I thanked him with all my heart and ran off to immigration. I made it just in time for boarding!

If this happened to me with a Manila taxi, the chances of me getting my bag back would be very slim. I would not know how to contact the driver and would probably not have noticed which taxi company it was. And even if I did, the horror stories of some taxi drivers being, rude, inconsiderate and unreliable are sadly true.

Thank you, Kuya Roberto Callos Reginaldo for bringing me back my bag. I can’t rate you 5 stars because you exceeded that. If there was a golden buzzer, you would definitely get it! May God bless you.

I am just one of the many grateful passengers of GRAB and UBER in the Philippines.

So LTFRB, please don’t make life difficult for us again. Don’t ban these transport services, instead work quickly on fixing necessary regulations so the riding public can have access to safe and reliable transportation.