MANILA -- Grab Philippines said Tuesday its had begun subsidizing fares to make up for the suspension of a P2 per minute fare that hurt drivers' earnings.

A Grab driver needs to earn at least P330 per hour to provide for his or her family, the ride-hailing firm's country head, Brian Cu, said in a statement.

"Since P2 per minute component was suspended, we received a lot of painful complaints from our partners that their earnings are not sufficient anymore to make a decent living. That’s why we decided to step in,” Cu said.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board suspended the P2 charge and earlier this month secured "full authority" from the Department of Transportation to regulate ride-hailing companies and their partner drivers.

Cu said he hoped the fare subsidy, which took effect last Monday, would encourage more Grab drivers to continue operating.

• LTFRB gets 'full authority' to regulate TNCs, TNVS

Grab has come under closer scrutiny from regulators since it took over the Southeast Asian operations of rival Uber in April.

The company also recently started hiding the destinations of customers to discourage cancelled bookings following complaints from irate commuters.

• Ride-hailing firm Grab buys Uber's SE Asia operations

• 600,000 requests vs 35,000 cars: Grab explains demand 'overflow'