EDITORIAL - Some laws, observed more in the breach

Many of those who take taxis have apparently forgotten that P10 is supposed to be deducted from the fare shown on taxi meters at the end of each trip. As a result, taxi drivers rake in an extra P10 for every passenger who fails to deduct the amount from his or her fare. Try to imagine how many P10 extra taxi drivers make in a day and you can conclude they are a happy lot indeed.

On the other hand, when a passenger tries to avail of the P10 deduction, most taxi drivers suddenly turn surly, if not outright angry. They have come to view the P10 as an entitlement. And it is all the fault of passengers because they do not insist, and those who insist are too free to make the setup seem regular. It is the fault as well of the LTFRB. In fact it all started as the fault of the LTFRB.

When fares were adjusted about a year ago, the LTFRB found it too much of a hassle to do its job and re-calibrate taxi meters to reflect a reduction in fare. In a directive that was akin to washing its hands of any responsibility, the LTFRB decreed that availing of the P10 reduction in fares was a matter between the taxi driver and his passenger.

The LTFRB felt it was a simple matter of the passenger paying P10 less than what is reflected on the meter. The agency left it to the riding public to make the adjustment, apparently guessing correctly that no driver would be willing to give the discount on his own. But as everyone knows, such a setup does not work in the Philippines, where the driver is always king, who looks at every passenger as if he owes him a living.

But this is not the only law that is being used to dupe the public. Take the law on senior citizens discounts. Most restaurants and fast food chains do not apply the discount on the entire amount consumed by a senior citizen. In fact, a leading fast food chain has issued its own regulations that peg a certain amount as a threshold for applying the senior citizen discount. Any amount in excess of the threshold is no longer discounted.

This is not what the law says. The law does not provide for a threshold over which to apply the senior citizen discount. All that law says that a senior citizen gets to enjoy a 20 percent discount in restaurants and an exemption from the payment of VAT. Maybe the authorities concerned should review the law and clamp down hard on those who try to skirt around its provisions.