Are you Filipino? If so, I think you know the answer to that question already, but a few statistics plus normal observation will tell you that it is enormously corrupt - it ranks 101 out of 176 countries, and that’s nothing to be proud of.
Corruption Perceptions Index 2016
This link gives you a good idea of how the rest of the world compares to the Philippines. It’s interesting that between two of Duterte’s new friends, China ranks at number 79, and Russia at 131, compared to old friends the United States at 18.
As I live here, I see it at first hand wherever I go; it’s quite subtle in some cases, such that the average Pinoy doesn’t notice it as it seems “normal” to them, but I compare it to my home country so it looms large to me. I will just give one example, but it’s endemic in all other government departments such as energy, farming, railways, major projects etc etc. The money gets paid, nothing gets done, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. That’s corruption on a grand scale. I could list and comment on them all, but “tl:dr”…
The Land Transport Office (LTO) - Davao City: This place doesn’t even have a carpark… It resembles a South American prison, and I have no doubt that the average person who works there carries out his/her duties as best they can, with diligence and a certain amount of humour - like all Filipinos, just glad they have a job. If you read the LTO Mission Statement however, they actually comply with absolutely none of it. Cars in my city haven’t been registered since the Aquino days, even though you pay for it every year (with a P1000 fine if you are a day late registering, even though they don’t send you a reminder and it’s hard to know when your vehicle is due for registry). Where does this P1000 penalty and the fee for re-registration go? I don’t know, and I doubt anyone else does either. In other countries you would say “It goes towards maintaining the roads”, but here it doesn’t, as LTO is not responsible for the highways, that’s the job of the DPWH (Public Works and Highways).
A farcical move was made to re-register every vehicle in the Philippines! You only have to give that a moment’s thought to realise that it’s a totally unrealistic proposal, and (no evidence of this but what do you think?) no doubt comes from only one supplier of registration plates being available… I wonder who controls that nice little business? In UK you can go and get a plate from any DIY auto shop, and all new cars are registered by the dealerships. It’s easy. So now - in Davao City where I live - if you get knocked down by a hit and run, you have no hope of taking the licence plate as it is either non-existent, a “temp” number such as 00132–0003618944328 (try memorising that when you are in pain) or obscured by dirt. We have paid our LTO dues since 2014 but haven’t received anything other than a receipt - the ubiquitous “OR” (no sticker even for the windscreen), so how the police keep track of unlicensed vehicles, no one knows.
LTO is responsible for all land transport activities, especially implementing transportation laws, rules and regulations - but not enforcing them! The roads abound with “Emission Centres”, but they also abound with smoking vehicles, so you can forget that side of LTO as well. You have a smoking vehicle? Just dash the Emission Centre a few pesos and off you go… If that’s not true, then how come there are so many smoking jeepneys, trucks and buses? You tell me…
You pass your driving test - like I did last August 2016 - and what do they give you? An “OR” which is an “Official Receipt” which has more value than a banknote it seems. You want a licence with your photo on it? Come back in June 2017. Just been, but I am not a OFW so have no need of a plasticated licence… Unbelieveable. Where’s the money going? You tell me.
So what does LTO actually do, and where does all the money go? I haven’t met anyone who can tell me that. I can only assume “corruption” which is the answer you will get from most if not all locals.
Smuggling of used cars is rampant, with as many as sixty percent of registrations being of cars not officially imported. Work that out, and how come they are registered if they are not officially imported? I would imagine Customs has a finger in that lucrative pie.
“Traffic congestion is an issue, especially in Metro Manila. Increasing car sales and lack of mass transit and highways cause most traffic congestion, and is feared to make Metro Manila "uninhabitable" by 2020”. 2020 is less than three years away, and I fear Davao City will go the same way, with its mass of “PUV” and “PUJ” vehicles clogging the roads like cholesterol in an artery.
A survey made by Waze called Metro Manila the "worst traffic on Earth". I can believe that, though Bangkok must be a close second.
Economic losses due to traffic congestion costs about ₱3 billion, as of 2012.
By 2030, over ₱6 billion will be lost in the Philippines' economy due to traffic congestion, according to Senator Bam Aquino. Even though his name is Aquino, I believe him.
So what’s being done about traffic in my city, Davao? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just more jeepneys, more multicabs, more taxis, more smoking vehicles, more unlicensed vehicles… No light on the horizon, and the problem which was manageable in 2009 is now close to getting unmanageable.
I rest my case…
No comments:
Post a Comment