Real life monopoly

In our family of three, my daughter always has control of the “board” when we play “Monopoly”. It’s very interesting how you can teach a child how people survive in the real world just by playing the game.

But when it comes to real world “Monopoly”, it seems that government officials and employees are the best at controlling the business.

This week the Philippine STAR headlined the big mess at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport due to the long-standing feud between the Airline Operators Council and officials and personnel of the Bureau of Customs.

For the longest time, government personnel at the NAIA have gotten away with charging airline companies with overtime pay every time they had to inspect and clear baggage of passengers arriving outside of the regular 8 to 5 work schedule. There is a claim that they even billed two airlines for the same hour of work.

Historically, the airline companies treated the very unusual imposition as a “cost of doing business” in a third world country. In the early days, the fees did not seem alarming because the amounts were much smaller and business was just fine.

But in time, economies all over the world started to fall apart, businesses began cutting back on unnecessary costs such as flying. In return the airlines needed to rationalize their operations so it was just a matter of time before the airline companies began firing people, cutting costs, and questioning “illegitimate” expenses.

This is why the Airline Operators Council finally went to the Court of Appeals who said: NO you don’t have to pay. But how do you explain that to the monster “you” helped create?

Instead of dealing with the Monster in the cave, BOC Commissioner is forced to prioritize service by bringing in a second team who are willing to do the “odd hour shift”. Alvarez may not realize it but his initial response to the problem may be the basis for the ultimate solution.

Regardless of their compensation or legal issues, the BOC personnel at the NAIA don’t own the “board” nor should they have a monopoly of the territory and assignments. Legally speaking, there is reason to believe that by receiving double compensation (from the BOC and the AOC) the customs personnel may be liable for graft and corruption charges.

If they are not, they are certainly guilty of getting special benefits over and above their other counterparts in the Bureau of Customs. This being the case, Commissioner Lito Alvarez should simply expand on his initial solution by reshuffling the BOC contingent at the NAIA. By bringing in a fresh team, he can impose a fresh set of rules while the old guard can take their problems to court.

Since the P-Noy administration is so much into replacing people at the NAIA and MIA, they might as well replace ALL!

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Sadly the issue of double compensation and unfair advantage has manifested itself in what has been labeled by a foreign official of the AOC as “ A Perfect Racket” in many areas of government.

If Congressmen Florencio Miraflores and Ted Haresco really want to rock the boat, they should investigate the practice where traffic enforcers are paid a salary and get a commission from the tickets they issue.

The idea they say is that this would motivate enforcers to go tough on violators and inspire them to have integrity. In other words we are now fighting Omission by giving compensation plus commission. I would not call that creative management, I would call it corrupt mismanagement!

This commission scheme has become such a moneymaker that even along Shaw Blvd., barangay tanods have designated a spot on the very boulevard to conduct their arrests and ticketing, regardless of the obstruction they make.

Clean air enforcers have done the same thing in Makati because of the incentivized system for every ticket or arrest made.

While the DILG and the DOJ struggle over the issue of whether it is necessary to issue a reward money for the arrest of fugitive Senator Ping Lacson, the issue does bring to light the fact that there is now an accepted practice of waiting for someone to put up a reward money or bounty for the arrest of high value suspects or controversial criminals.

In the old days, policemen would only require you to show a warrant of arrest, and they would arrest the suspect if you can direct them to the criminal. Now we have so many sad tales of warrants becoming meaningless unless you can put up reward money for the law enforcers.

Even criminals and lawless elements in Mindanao no longer call their crimes kidnapping or hostage taking, they call it accommodation by charging for “board and lodging”.

Filipinos are undoubtedly very creative when it comes to problem solving. Unfortunately many of the creative solutions have also given birth to more problems. In the case of the BOC and the Airline Operators Council, we now see that even foreigners and foreign companies eventually learn to fight back.

First they went to court, then they told the Immigration and Customs officials to go do their job and spend their own money and deal with their own people.

How long will it take before Filipinos themselves get fed up being victims or disappointed by another government that won’t change, won’t fix the right problems, or re-establish law and order?

The P-Noy administration should not be fooled by the scent of victory as it currently is, because it is not the equivalent of success. A momentary victory pales in comparison to the prospects of shame due to missed opportunities, garden-variety achievements and insignificant leadership.

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