‘You pay peanuts – you get monkeys’

When airport authorities went into panic mode after the President went ballistic over the thievery at our airports, they did just about everything except the really right thing.

They talked about electronic surveillance, stricter background checks on baggage handlers, body cams, no cellphones on the job etc. All except to find out how much these baggage handlers and personnel were paid by service providers? While not everybody is a thief, it is too much temptation for those who are grossly underpaid to be exposed daily to all the products and material wealth that pass through their hands.

As the President himself has said, there is something fundamentally wrong when government transactions are based on the lowest bidder. As a result we will end up with people who will also be the lowest paid, least motivated and of the highest risk. The problem in all service related contracts is that the government does not require or set a standard that insures that people who are part of contracted services are paid the right amount, including correct compensation for overtime, Social Security, Pag-IBIG, PhilHealth and protective provisions such as the right to refuse to carry or handle baggage that exceeds weight limits etc. as they do in other countries. The baggage handlers are all contractual so they have no security of tenure, no union to protect them and now all we can talk about are the thieves in their circle but not the thieves in private sector or government who rob people like them of fair wages and rights under the law.

These are the seemingly small things that Congressmen and Senators should be working on and not wasting resources on stupid impeachment trials just so they can pretend to be tough and competent in front of the cameras. Kindly earn your salaries by serving the least of the people you claim to represent!

In any case if you pay peanuts you indeed get monkeys who unfortunately elect clowns!

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Dear IACT officials,

You have all probably heard the complaints and suggestions from private car owners, taxis and commercial vehicles, that the yellow lane area or bus lanes are often empty or not fully utilized because there are not enough buses while there are too many private or commercial vehicles and not enough lanes.

Perhaps it would be worth your time to get out of your offices or point your CCTV cameras on those lanes AFTER rush hour or the so-called “Truck ban” period. I have observed many times that after the rush hour, the Bus lanes are almost empty since even the buses don’t go out because the volume of passengers have reduced. Perhaps it might be worth a try to allow commercial vehicles, vans and taxis to use the Bus lane after the truck ban or off peak. This will greatly help distribute the vehicles on EDSA and would probably add a few kilometers more to the speed of travel.

Yes I know it is a BUS lane but if you don’t have the buses why insist on jamming everybody on three lanes instead of five? Is it because you can’t be bothered or you guys are incapable of applying flexibility in your approach?

The same goes for the stretch of EDSA from Muñoz market to West Avenue. That entire stretch is a constant nightmare because of the double lane U-turn slots that jam up with no one regulating and punishing those jumping in the cue or cutting in front of everybody. You guys at IACT cannot expect people to be happy about your rules if you are not willing to discipline those who violate them! Please stop functioning on “De-Kahon” solutions or your compartmentalized approach.

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While driving toward the toll booths at NLEX coming from Pampanga, I noticed that the toll rates billboards or how much drivers are supposed to pay are printed in relatively small print and low to the ground, while advertisements and promos are high-up and big for everyone to see. The same goes for the SLEX and just about every toll way in the country. The managers of these facilities should or MUST prioritize the convenience and service to motorists and not collecting additional income through advertising!

Those rates should be printed in large prints and placed high up so we know how much to pay in advance and can have the right amount while waiting in line. Part of the delay comes from having to find the toll fee and then getting the money out. Regulators should also require operators to do a joint educational campaign promoting electronic toll payments or a time and motion study on how much time is wasted when drivers don’t prepare the exact change. It’s like those campaigns about water and electricity that now has many Filipinos closing the tap and turning lights off when not needed!

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Last but not the least, may we call on DPWH Secretary Villar, MMDA and perhaps the Mayor of Taguig to do a serious study on how to use engineering and lane dividers to manage the build up of traffic coming from C5 and turning into the service road toward Taguig City etc. There is a constant traffic jam there because vehicles double up and block C5 south bound.

Ironically there is a service road alongside C5 that would be perfect for channeling vehicles into the off ramp. All they have to do is clear the broken down barrier approximately 200 meters before the off ramp and make sure that during peak or rush hours the volume going toward Taguig is prioritized so that there is minimal build up coming off C5. If they used a much longer stretch of the service road then they will be able to better manage the build up. Besides, that service road has been turned into many things such as private parking, garbage pile area, playground but not a “service road.”

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