Charles Teves
- Reynaldo Tugade initially challenged Mercado to a fist fight
- Tugade was already hot headed
- Tugade only started filming when more people came to the incident
Jan Jervie Mercado and his girlfriend Rhea Mantalaba Sangil are still going viral on social media for causing bodily harm to Grab driver Reynaldo Tugade.
Mercado and Sangil, along with their friends, insisted that Tugade consider letting a toddler ride but declined since having more than 5 people in a car goes against Grab’s policy.
Not only that, there is actually a law mandated by LTFRB as a safety standard for car manufacturers.
According to Grab’s policy, “Following the safety standards of car manufacturers having a maximum capacity of 5 passengers for car including the driver, Grab Cars can only accommodate up to 4 passengers. Children, regardless of age, shall be counted as one passenger.”
The couple are now in the hands of authorities and are currently facing physical injury and malicious mischief charges.
But Mercado’s party went on social media to share their side of the story.
Mercado’s eldest sister Abbygail had to clear things up.
According to her, it was Monday and their aunt was on her way home, so Sangil booked her a Grab ride along with Mercado’s friends.
When Tugade arrived, they said he was immediately hot-headed and said that he could only accommodate four passengers as the aunt and four others, including a toddler, hopped into the car.
Mercado’s aunt was with her four-year-old child and said in a calm tone that she was willing to pay extra for the child.
Tugade allegedly started shouting and one of Mercado’s friends told him to calm down because he was scaring the child.
The party then got out of the car and one of Mercado’s friends slammed the car door a little too hard and that was when the altercation started.
Tugade got out and started getting aggressive with his shouting. Mercado then heard this and spoke to the Tugade in a calm manner but the driver was still hot headed.
Tugade then challenged Mercado to a fist fight and got hit in the eye.
Abbygail claimed that of netizens do not know Tugade was the one who started it all. He even threw punches but did not land them successfully.
Mercado then kicked his car. Sangil and friends got in between them but Tugade wanted to hit back and pushed them away.
Tugade then decided to pull out his phone to document the whole thing when he saw more people arriving on the scene.
He started becoming submissive and even called Mercado ‘anak’.
Abbygail still doesn’t know why Sangil was detained.
Tugade was then very arrogant when it came to settling the matter she said.
Tugade allegedly mentioned that he drives for Mar Roxas, and other claims about knowing people of authority.
Abbygail said that her family did not gang up on Tugade. Mercado was the only one present during the altercation, and not his sisters or any other family members.
If people watch the video Abbygail said, Mercado will always be the antagonist that was preying on a helpless Grab driver but that is only because the events leading up to the incident were not caught on cam.
The Mercado family has been receiving death threats because of this and Abbygail urged these people to stop it.
Abbygail admitted that her brother was wrong for hurting Tugade and kicking his car, but that is not a justification for people to threaten them.
Mercado was also drunk when the incident happend and apologized to Tugade multiple times but was ignored.
Abbygail wants people to stop bashing her family because what happened was not indicative of the kind of people they are.
According to the one who posted the screenshots, Abbygail and her family have helped them and other people on multiple occasions.
President of Grab Philippines, Brian Cu, has released a statement.
Things aren’t looking good for Mercado and his party as Cu says that Grab will be doing everything they can to see Mercado get sentenced.
Apparently, Tugade’s car was damaged but several people have donated to get it fixed.
Cu also mentioned that Tugade will be receiving medical and legal assistance provided by Grab.
Cu says that he is happy to see Tugade’s injuries improving.
