Beep

The quickest way we could get our economy going while continuing the fight against the virus is to absorb as much digital technology into our processes as possible.

We have been warned for years about our slow pace in digitizing things. Every initiative to introduce better use of digital technologies tends to be politicized and delayed.

Start with the issuance of a national ID system and the development of a reliable national database. I was involved in the effort to introduce this 25 years ago, during the Ramos administration, beginning with the digitization of our electoral system and the consolidation of government-issued citizen identification systems.

When then president Fidel Ramos issued an executive order to get the process of a unified identification system, the matter was brought before the Supreme Court. The petitioners, led mainly by leftist groups, won the day. The whole nation lost. As the world progressed towards a fully digital passport system based on a reliable national database, we were falling behind.

In the worst days of the pandemic, government could not quickly deliver direct subsidies to the most vulnerable communities because we did not have that digital identification system and national database. We were treated to this laughable sight of municipal mayors displaying bundles of cold cash atop their desks to be handed out as relief while the lockdown was at its tightest.

A lot of corruption happened because our methods were most primitive. With a reliable database, government could have simply downloaded the money onto debit cards. The process would have been both quicker and safer. We could have done in a matter of seconds what eventually took weeks to distribute. Meanwhile, families starved.

Congress finally passed a law establishing a national identification system. But the technologies chosen are behind the curve, assuring the database could not be fully optimized. To date, there has been no significant progress in getting this system going.

About 15 years ago, government tried to build a national broadband network using to full advantage the fiber-optic cables installed along the power grid. That initiative, we will recall, was soon enveloped in controversy. The project was eventually dropped.

If we managed, despite our medieval politics, to build that network it would have been so much easier to shift to “blended learning” now that the pandemic has struck. The educational system would have been the biggest beneficiary of a national broadband system, enabling content to be rapidly updated and delivered. But again, we are behind the curve and forced to live the spectacle of teachers climbing trees to get internet signals.

Over a decade ago, government financial institutions offered to finance a program that would digitize the payment system for all mass transport. With a single card, a commuter can pay for rail, bus and eventually jeepneys. That would have eliminated the long queues and improved the efficiency of movement while ensuring a minimum of physical contact.

That, too, did not happen. A few months ago, infections broke out at the MRT-3 depot, disrupting service. The infections were traced to persons manning the ticketing booths receiving cash and giving out change to thousands of commuters each day. That could have been avoided had we digitized the payments system. Electronic payments would not only have been safer, they would have shut down the syndicates that skimmed money from the fare boxes by reissuing tickets.

In a few weeks, all our expressways will go cashless. All customers are now required to install devices and prepay their toll. This should have happened years ago, when commuters had to endure long lines at the tollgates. But that would have been strongly opposed by customers. It took a pandemic to get this sensible thing done.

This week, it was decided that all buses plying Edsa would go cashless. Commuters will be required to purchase beep cards before they board buses. The total cash out will be P180 – P80 for the card and P100 for the initial fare load.

As usual, the decision to go cashless is opposed by populist groups who either reject the policy outright or are demanding that the beep card be distributed free. If the populist agitators succeed once more, the goal of fully digitizing our fare systems will be set back.

Sure, shelling out P100 for a beep card will cause some pain, especially for day workers who count every peso for food and fare. But somebody has to pay for the technologies that will make our collective lives easier and safer.

If we make the bus companies pay for the beep cards, they will pass the costs back to the commuters. If the cards are given away free, there will be little incentive for commuters to care for them. They will likely queue for new cards before each ride, defeating the purpose for digitizing fares.

If the poorest can afford to prepay for their phone service, it should not be such an imposition to ask them to pay for the electronic fare cards. Those with cars who use the expressways will have to prepay their toll. The convenience will vastly outweigh the costs.

The same people who now demand free beep cards are likely the same ones who oppose the banks charging a small fee for ATM services. These services cost the banks quite a sum to operate. It is just that the direct users help shoulder these costs. The charges also help discourage inefficient use of the ATM system, such as withdrawing P100 at a time.

We cannot let the freeloaders dictate our technology policy.