On land and at sea

Last week, I had a chance to catch up with two city mayors in the Visayas and it was interesting to learn how one mayor reacted to my topic selection for this column while the other was totally on board with the focus I have been putting on the abuses of “government” on business.

Mayor Mike Rama of Cebu City chuckled at how I have gone from national politics and personalities to poultry, agriculture and cockfighting. He assumed that I was fed up writing about the hopeless imbeciles in national politics so much so that I would rather write about things close to my heart, such as poultry and agriculture and breeding gamefowl.

Actually, I have been writing about agriculture, poultry and abuses at the local government levels right alongside the incompetence of certain national officials simply because food and the high cost of agricultural products hit home harder and faster than taxes and failed leadership.

But recent developments have been a serious cause for concern, which is why I have targeted the issue.

In the many years I have been privileged to write a column and host a TV show, I have never before been approached by manufacturers and corporations in the agriculture and food industries like they do now, asking for help to expose how agencies and offices at both the national and local government levels have been taking advantage of their “power” to impose requirements and charges that amount to hundreds of millions annually per industry.

Companies and corporations often steer clear of media or making “sumbong” for fear of reprisal or revenge from government officials and local politicians. But after losing so much money and opportunities during the recent pandemic, these companies and corporations were shocked that instead of giving them some breathing space or chance to recover, the LGUs decided that they needed to be first in line for any receivables or shares, even before any sale or deliveries are consummated.

When I started to write about how many provinces from Ilocos down to Mindanao impose various fees and “services” at the expense of feed manufacturers and poultry producers and consumers, a few friends labeled me as the voice of the poultry producers. While that is flattering, I did not realize that the series of columns would eventually catch the attention of truckers, logistics or “movers” in the Visayas who shared their woes and anger with my friend and presidential relative, Mayor Alfred Romualdez of Tacloban City.

Mayor Alfred called over the weekend and told me the sad stories and complaints he’s been getting from businessmen in his region and further south. Many people have overlooked the “Chain of Corruption” that many drivers, pahinantes and operators have to deal with when transporting goods from Northern Philippines and Metro Manila across to the Visayas region.

Mayor Alfred shared how trucks loaded with vegetables begin from the Baguio/Benguet area and pass through a series of checkpoints or are flagged down by different law enforcement units, including the Highway Patrol, LTO, local PNP, various provincial, city or municipal quarantine/sanitary inspection outposts.

All of these form a chain as trucks pass through Benguet-La Union-Pangasinan-Tarlac-Pampanga-Bulacan-Metro Manila-Laguna-Batangas-Quezon-Bicol and finally reach the Visayas.

Some drivers already have prepared envelopes for the established checkpoints, others have clips of P100 bills, others have bundles of vegetable samples, fruits or trays of eggs, maybe even a dozen live chickens in a dedicated box to draw from.

But all that is small time petty corruption. The big bucks happen when a trucker or mover has to take the ferry boat between Matnog and Allen. The perpetual long lines of trucks, cars and buses at the ports on both sides simply mean several things: the ferry boats are operating on “alas puno” or will sail only when they are full, there are ongoing negotiations for who gets to ride subject to bribes, or both.

Romualdez himself experienced this last January. They were told that there was no more space on the ship, so they had to wait overnight. Romualdez said he went incognito, sent someone to find out and strike a deal. They were charged P5,000 to be allowed to board and ended up paying P10,000 for two vehicles. When they got on board, there was a lot of space and the excuse often used is weight limits. When word got out that the two vehicles belonged to Mayor Romualdez, the crooks at the port tried to return the money and claimed it was an innocent mistake.

The nightmares at Matnog and Allen ports are already part of Philippine history and current reality. No President has ever succeeded in putting an end to the corruption, inefficiency and financially draining delays at those ports. There is a new general manager at the PPA, but a government appointee cannot stand up against a syndicate that is already generationally entrenched.

If President Bongbong Marcos manages to put that place under the Office of the President and make it an efficient drive-through system, he will score more PR points on executive and political will than all his predecessors combined, because those two ports qualify as principalities of corruption and evil!

As for the truckers, movers and business owners doing the Luzon to Visayas runs, Mayor Alfred told me that they too are now fed up and are about to take a very public legal action against agencies and officials who have taken advantage of their silence.

If people can go to the Supreme Court for a writ of Kalikasan, would it be possible to get the DOTr, DPWH and the PPA to come before the court and say what they plan to do about the patent corruption and incompetence at those ports? Forget Congress or the Senate because they’ve never done anything about it, simply because they usually fly on borrowed jets and choppers!