Philip Salvador and The Bus Incident

I've made several posts ( here and here )previously about unruly bus drivers and this is an additional to the bus frenzy here in the Philippines.

After last year's bus accident which killed a known eye doctor here in the Philippines and several other people in seperate incidents, some might have already forgotten already about it. But to the victims of these unruly and undisciplined bus drivers, they won't -- forever.

Just yesterday, another bus almost caused an accident. It became big of an issue because it involved a famous person (A Philippine Celebrity) otherwise, it wouldn't have made the news. I am guessing that the bus driver and the conductor made this a big issue. I am not in Philip's side because I did not know what really happened. All I can say is, I know how these big vehicles of mass destruction acts.

As I've narrated several incidents already of me being nearly crushed by racing bus drivers, aiming to get passengers first, my side mirror was destroyed with them not noticing it or purposedly not noticing it. I guess this is what happened to Philip Salvador yesterday. When we are in danger (our family), we react quickly and defensively. What he did is not far from what I can possibly do when I am with my family in the same scenario.

of course, you will do everything to protect your family. You know what I hate about them (Bus Drivers)? After driving irresponsibly and racing using public roads in their huge public utility vehicles without them thinking of the consequences, they will say sorry to the victims. Sometimes, they are even the aggressive party rather than being sorry. What if a life has been taken? This is the time wherein the acting skills of the bus driver will be revealed. He will sit there like a purring kitten asking for forgiveness. Will sorry be enough?

In my opinion, we really need to have the system changed. Give them fixed wages to have a more disciplined and safer streets. Unless a politician or someone great is killed by these drivers, I guess no one would notice this.

By the way, did you know that the bus driver who killed Dr. Sarabia had 30 violations prior to the accident? How nice that he still has a license... How can that be? Very poor system. tsktsktsk...

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Tax system, explained using beer

-by David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.Professor of Economics University of Georgia
-image by me, from another site: http://www.starshop.de/bilder1/s-8385.jpg

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this... The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. 'Drinks for the ten now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers?

How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings) .

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings) .

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man.

He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!''Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man.

'I only saved a dollar, too.. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!''That's true!!' shouted the seventh man.

'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two?

The wealthy get all the breaks!

''Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the Tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction.

Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore.

In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is
somewhat friendlier.

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5 reasons why it's hard to do business in the Philippines

Nothing in here is copied or duplicated. These are all from my thoughts and experiences in doing business in the Philippines. I just feel bad about the system here. As impossible as it seems, we really need someone to help us solve this unsolvable problem...

5 reasons why it's hard to do business in the Philippines

#5 reason - No system

I am sure that you have lined up in a government institution at least once while applying or requesting for something. It's like hell, right? You take a day-off from your school or work and line up whole day just to get your license or NBI clearance or anything. You are lucky if you can finish it up in one day.

*Land transportation office (LTO) improved already. I can renew my license in around 3 hours -Yehey!*

If you want to get ahead of the others, there is a solution...

#4 reason - Connections

This is rampant here. If we aren't talking about political dynasties (like what we really have now), we are talking about a whole family working in one branch of the government. For example, a friend of mine has a dad working in one. Her daughter is his secretary while his son is somewhere in the accounting department. Their mom works as a subcontractor for that government agency.

Also, if you know someone from the government agency like, the Department of Foreign Affairs, you would get your newly applied passport in a day. I also know one foreigner who got his working permit in just 2 days.

Connections work like magic. But you know what? There is one more thing that works faster. It's like putting grease on the wheels to turn faster.

#3 reason - Bribery

To tell you the truth, most business owners KNOW this. They just keep quiet and continue doing their business while these officials leech their funds. Bribery, as sad as I had to admit, is a local custom. From traffic enforcers accepting bribes from traffic violators to the engineering office, accepting dirty money from building owners who failed to pass.

Bureau of Immigration high-ranking employees (I don't know now, but I've heard stories before.) get houses, cars and other fancy properties in exchange for, of course, their imports to be released.

I can source out one of the sources of bribery and this is because of all the requirements the government is asking, and we call it...

#4 reason - Red tape

To tell you the truth, if you don't bribe, it will take you eons of wasted time just to get your legal business up and running.

I would like to focus my topic here. I have plenty of friends, in which I've heard similar to outrageous horror stories in doing business in the Philippines. I am not scaring you, FYI. You just need connections here to get your business running smoothly.

I can say that DTI already improved. There is not much problem in the DTI (It just takes time, but not that long too.) The nightmare starts when the Local Government Unit inspects your area. Clearly, you would think that you complied with every single dot they told you to do.

Fire inspection is one. Believe me, they will FIND EVERY SINGLE SPECK OF ERROR (even when there is clearly none) until you finally quit and just give in. After giving in, you finally get an approval for them. For people who are used to this, they can get a business up and running in no time because they already know what to do.

Electrical stuff approval. This is the first time I've actually heard of this and this is outrageous. Do you know that you have to apply for a permit if you are going to add additional wall sockets?? It's not like he was adding 10! He just added one! He was penalized for that. Do I have to apply for an electrical permit for an extension cord? Please advice.

Red tape in motoring. I actually have fewer problems now with LTO ever since they applied the computerized system. The only crappy thing about this is the medical stuffs. I paid around 250 pesos (r250, right?) just to get the in-house doctor to sign the paper without actually conducting any test or asking me anything. I paid him, he got a pre-filled out paper and wrote my name. After that, he signed it and it's done.

You see, the more requirements the government asks, the more ways these corrupt government officials can extract money from us. As much as people want to do business legally here, some result to giving in and bribing just to get pass this very challenging road to approval.

#5 reason of all the above - Corruption

Yes. Because of the uncontrollable greedy human nature to improve one's lifestyle, these government officials resort to this. Sad but true. From LGU's to high ranking officials, it is rampant. Of course, I am not generalizing everyone. There are also some honest officials left, I think. These officials are afraid of the media and that is why they are either killed or they are untouchable.

THANK GOD FOR THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH. At least it is saving us even for a bit.

*Just a follow up. For Dept. of Interior and Local Government, monitor your firefighters, ok? Some are asking for money in exchange for putting out the fire.

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Law: Is EO 712 legal? (Executive Order 712)

SLEx Traffic.
Photo From: http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8662/traffic1ic1.jpg

According to Makati Mayor Binay, it is not. But to others, they just followed the orders of the President.

Last March 11,2008, Transport groups agreed to stop their strike and return to the roads after a meeting with government transport officials, radio dzBB reported.

Pending the review by DOTC of the questioned orders, rules and regulations, Mrs Arroyo, through EO 712, directed the Department of Interior and Local Government to advise local government units to suspend:

- the establishment and operations of new and existing transport terminals that charge fees and require compulsory use by public utilityvehicles.

- the enforcement of re-routing schemes that violate the authorized routes provided in the franchise of PUVs;

- the issuance of new tricycle franchises;

- the increase in local fees and charges applicable to public transportation;

- the implementation of local programs, projects, and ordinances that have impact on the cost of operations of public utility vehicles without first coordinating and getting the approval of the DOTC to ensure that these programs, projects and ordinances do not prejudice public interest by way of higher transport fares.

The President also ordered the DOTC to establish a National Land Transport Policy framework, which shall facilitate the modernization of the land transport industry through the promotion of utility services which are environment-friendly and provide assistance to the transport sector through lease-to-own programs, technical assistance, subsidies and the encouragement of the use of alternative fuels and renewable energy.

The EO 712 also paved the way for the implementation of a single ticketing system in Metro Manila in accordance with Republic Act 7924.

The DILG was also directed to establish and implement uniform track ban hours.

Fernando insisted that EO 712 is valid and legal and that the MMDA should enforce the single ticketing system for the issuance of traffic citation tickets to traffic violators.

He said that the authority of the MMDA to enforce the scheme is provided for under RA 7924, which created the MMDA.

He said that contrary to the assertion of those opposed to the scheme, the MMDA law superseded the Local Government Code of 1991 since RA7924 was signed in 1995.

Fernando said he respects the rights of the LGUs to question the legality of EO 712 before the court but he added that the MMDA will pursue implement it.

But eight local chief executives out of the 17 Metro Manila mayors have agreed to reject President’s Arroyo’s EO 712.

This decision was reached on Wednesday during a meeting called by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay.

Binay said that the MMDA has “no legislative power” to enforce the single traffic ticketing system.

News Sources:
Philippine News
Source1
Source2

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