Star light, star bright

It was nice seeing and meeting my bosses and colleagues during the Philippine STAR Christmas party held at the Palacio de Maynila last week.

I begin with the STAR president and CEO, Miguel Belmonte, this time a little heavier but with the forever baby face, and a new hairstyle. Like in past Christmas bashes, he spoke of the gains the paper has made (true news, that), making it as having the largest circulation among the broadsheets.

There was Grace Glory Go, the effervescent sister of the STAR’s late founding chair Betty Go Belmonte. And so were the other two Belmonte sons – Kevin (my co-graduate at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Ill.), and Isaac, head of the STAR’s editorial board. 

The STAR’s shining lights came after lunch – Ana Marie Pamintuan, Marichu Villanueva, and Millet Mananquil, my glamorous friend since the golden days of yore.

The latest columnist of the STAR, the National Artist for Literature Frank Sionil Jose, was a joy to behold. It was during the last year that I read all of his novels, and ached to meet him again in person to ask how a boy from a small town up north learned to write in the English language that has the world mesmerized. At the party, I met him and his wife, Tessie, and their youngest son. There was no chance of talking at length at the party; one day, I hope, at his famous Solidaridad bookshop. Of my close columnist friends, Satur Ocampo was there, and so was Sara Soliven De Guzman.

I missed Mon Lim, the patient, accommodating Opinion page editor, but was glad his wife, Eliz, was there. My good friends were there – Emie Cruz, head of the human resource office, Vivian Guevarra of the finance office, and the so- dependable president’s secretary, Myrna Palacio. The editorial section  girls were there – Joy Telles and Norycel Capistrano.

Now, to the unforgettable party. The screen videos, the décor all around the hall, and music were energizing. Like all past celebrations, the heroes of the event were not from the editorial section, but the personnel of the three sister companies Philippine STAR, Pilipino Star Ngayon, and Pilipino Star Printing Co. At my request, Emie provided me details of the party. 

The members of the three companies grouped themselves to represent red, green, gold, blue and white colors. “We chose to have fun during the party because we want to be united as one big family. We also want to promote the health and wellness program of our company. Employees are all busy with their work in the office, and we’re not getting any younger, so we thought it’s about time to give attention to our health and wellness.” How true, how true. In bright costumes, the participants swung and danced, and tossed girls in the air in the cheer dance competition, which was the highlight of the party.

Cash rewards were in abundance. We editorial people looked with a tinge of envy; but we were all utterly happy. 

Besides the competition, nothing more would please the employees but the raffle. The house broke down as winners were announced, to win the grand prize of P25,000 cash (one winner per company), one won P10,000. Another P5,000. Others won assorted gift certificates and watches. Sir MGB gave P5,000 cash for 30 winners (that’s P150,000), while Sir Kevin gave a total of P100,000, Senator Bong Go gave P5,000 gift checks to 40 winners.

There was also the Winners Take All Raffle Pa Buenas. Says Emie: “We sold tickets to employees at P200 per ticket. All ticket sales were divided equally among 10 winners. Initially we had P30,00 as winning cash prize for each winner, but because more tickets were sold, the winning prize per winner totaled P38,300.”

I have these words of praise for the STAR parties: Management makes employees feel – from the rank and file to the executives – good and appreciated.

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For a long time, we were bothered by the irksome practice of motorcyclists as kings of the road who maim and kill people through their reckless driving, and contribute to the already dreadful street congestions. We wished these cyclists were driven off the streets. But wishful thinking we’ve made, since most everywhere in the island, motor bikers have made themselves useful as providing an alternative mode of transporting people, getting them to their places of work and back home fast. In the rural areas, motorbikes are equipped with planks of wood on each side, for passengers’ seat. In cities like Manila, motorcyclists are allowed to take on passengers, riding in front or at the back of the drivers. Bikers have formed an organization called Angkas, which take riders more quickly to work than do buses or jeepneys which, in the first place, are not enough, or crawl in traffic.  

As gleaned from the Internet, George Royeca, chief transport advocate of Angkas, put up the notice that some 27,000 riders have been serving the public since 2017. The riders, he says, are considered veterans who can be trusted to safely bring passengers to their destination.

The bad news is that 20,000 bikers are about to lose their job with a new Land Transportation (LTFRB) decision  that decreases the number of Angkas bikers from 27,000 to 10,000 next year. As if in consolation, Angkas continues its operation but in a greatly reduced number.  This decision, according to Royeca, is “a compromise to the quality of service you can expect, and a direct blow to over 17,000 Filipino families. . . 

“Even if we are considered patawa at balasubas by social media, we prioritize the safety of our passengers and the welfare of our bikes, which will not become much harder to do with (these) new rules. The traffic in our thoroughfares is getting heavier each day, and there are more and more communities to serve as time goes by.”

Twitter ads state that an LTFRB post has announced that in the extension of the pilot implementation of motorcycle taxis, it has “allotted [a cap] of 39,000 registered bikers – 10,000 bikes for Transport Network Company (TNC) for Metro Manila and 3,000 bikes per MC Taxi service provider for Metro Cebu operations.” The 39,000 authorized registered bikes will be divided among Angkas and new players JoyRide and Move It.

With the reduced number of bike taxis, “Your everyday heroes in traffic will enter this Christmas season not knowing whether they will have money to feed their families next year,” said Royeco’s official statement.

Royeca said there is no need to restrict the number of Angkas bikers who were properly trained and followed traffic rules accordingly. 

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Reacting on the news of reducing the number of Angkas bikers, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said, for 17,000 Angkas drivers and their families, they get the saddest and meanest Christmas gift ever: their livelihood being taken away.”

“The gift of unemployment is the most heartless of all, the worst Christmas bonus, one that even Scrooge will not even dare think of.  

Many government agencies mark the holiday with wholesale acts of goodwill – mass feeding and mass gift giving. But mass firing of thousands of breadwinners is an act of cruelty that goes against the season’s spirit of compassion. More so because the victims did nothing to deserve that unkindness. 

“By all means – in the interest of competition, and in the spirit of may-the-best-service-provider-win principle – open up the motorcycle-ride hailing service to new players. 

“But this should not be at the expense of firing those already in the business, those who have invested their life savings in motorcycles, those who have logged good safety records, those who have cultivated sukis who rely on them for their daily ride.

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