Closing shop

Our current economic condition is deemed by many business owners as worse than the two-year lockdown during the COVID pandemic.

There has even been an increase in business owners unapologetically sharing woes online of closing shop, while the bold enthusiasm of entrepreneurs has all but disappeared in the face of such grim realities.

People who thought it was good idea to get a car loan and enroll their car in the TNVS or Transport Network Vehicle Service, have thrown in the towel, surrendered their cars to lending banks, forfeiting payments they made, no longer concerned with getting a bad credit rating.

Aside from fuel and maintenance costs, plus driver related headaches, the operators tell me that the competition has become extremely tough, practically wiping out regular earnings.

There are way too many TNVS units and adding to the nightmare are the corporate TNVS operators representing big companies and car manufacturers. There is no limit to the number of TNVS units entering the market and the industry has become survival of the fittest or “matira ang matibay.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of small foreign branded grocery chains have popped up all over the country, as well as fast food chains that are now next to each other.

All of this shows that local and national agencies do not apply any form of zoning and quota for the number of stores or outlets per area or the absorption capacity of a community. Another elephant in the room is online shopping. Almost every kind of business has lost a pound of flesh to online shopping.

Resort owners bemoan how local tourism in Palawan province has sharply fallen and related businesses such as hotels, resorts, restaurants, bars and cafés have become collateral damage.

As far as local travel goes, reports have come out that local air travel has gone down by about three percent last quarter as many people choose affordable travel arrangements such as buses and vans.

One of my friends just sent me a message that accurately expresses the sentiments of many “backyard, mom & pop businesses all over the country.”

“It is sad that our economy is going down the drain. Forex is really bad. Utilities are skyrocketing despite the many mitigation efforts to reduce cost. Red tape and corruption on the local level, LGUs, BIR, BFP have aggravated the lack to incentivize entrepreneurs to put up shop or continue.

“There should be a real change on the one-stop-shops which still need to be streamlined. Government needs to encourage job creation not just by big companies but SMEs which should be the backbone of the economy.

“Real service for the people considering taxes being paid. Make it worthwhile to pay taxes. End to dynasties, banning fourth to fifth consanguinity in government projects for politicians. Corruption should be congruent to economic sabotage and should have the heaviest penalty along with heinous crimes.”

There was a time when the Bureau of Customs was always the number one corrupt agency in government, and everyone made sure they knew it. But nowadays, that dishonor seems to have gone to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Many believe the BIR is the most corrupt agency under the Marcos Jr. administration, but second only to the Ghost Projects gang.

Business owners have been  expressing their anger and frustration against officials or “field agents” of the BIR who keep a permanent list of business establishments to visit and audit and “collect” from annually.

One business owner was so angry as he told me that the BIR people always made false claims and exaggerations but offered compromise agreements. This is the result of government and congressional quotas on collections for the BIR, BOC and other government agencies.

Instead of cutting the fat in government, right sizing bureaucracy, Malacañang and Congress insist that targets must be met, even if we are reeling from the global pandemic and economic crisis. 

The fact that decent business people openly say that they are forced to negotiate with the BIR just to get them off their backs reminds me of what a lawyer once said about governance in the Philippines: “We are being forced to become criminals even when we want to follow the law!”

Other business owners complain about the multi-level permits and registration, high cost of electricity and various obstacles that slow down productivity and efficiency.

But the one thing that is rarely talked about is the fact that the government is also a multi-level operator who gets a cut or profit from every transaction each Filipino makes ahead of every business owner or employee.

The government could turn things around by lowering its cut on taxable goods and services, which would help lower fuel and transport prices, lower prices of consumer goods. Government should clean up all the red tape and corruption. But in order to do all of that, we need political will similar to that of president Rodrigo Duterte.

Unfortunately, the current leadership is just like King Saul who was gravely concerned with what people thought of him, relied on second class leaders and suffered from hallucinations, imagined threats and losing his kingdom.

His fear and jealousy robbed him of the means to recognize those who were an asset to him, those who were faithful to him and eventually it was his fear and obsession that possessed him in mind and spirit to attempt to kill David and Saul’s own son, Jonathan.

King Saul ultimately died in battle by falling on his own sword while David became king afterwards.  

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