The bitten bites back

Life, they say, imitates art, and that may now be the case in the Zombieland of Philippine business where those who have been bitten by corrupt local government officials have started to bite back. Like the walking dead, a growing number of businesses, corporations and business owners have started to come out in the open or send the media details of harassment or solicitations from corrupt LGUs.

In our recent conversation, I expressed my concern to DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos and his Undersecretary for Local Government Marlo Iringan that in the past, businesses would only express their anger but never take action or provide information for fear of retaliation. But after the business downturn due to the pandemic and serious losses in earnings, companies and owners are in no mood to be further victimized.

The series of articles I’ve written on unlawful or illegal fees and charges imposed by LGUs have focused on LGUs outside Metro Manila where the victims are part of the food supply chain or logistics. Last weekend, I found myself invited to several gatherings or invited for coffee that turned out to be a sumbungan session or lamentation on LGU abuses within Metro Manila.

During lunch with business owners, I was told about the growing discontent of businesspeople with the officials of Barangay Greenhills who they described as acting as if they were part of the Ortigas clan or owners of the commercial complex. A couple of business owners shared how the barangay officials “meddle,” question or challenge every little thing from store signs, parking, traffic and pedestrian flow all the way to “business permits,” which is supposed to be the sole domain of San Juan City Hall.

One fellow pointed out that compared to other LGUs in and outside Metro Manila, Barangay Greenhills has separate documentation from San Juan City Hall. In other LGUs, the barangay certificate is attached and paid to city hall. In a time when many barangays and LGUs are thinking of how to attract investors, it might be good for San Juan and Barangay Greenhills to review their policies and attitude towards business.

I know that another Ortigas commercial development in Pasig City has adopted a business-friendly policy in terms of rent and relationships and has actually succeeded in attracting mom-and-pop establishments here in Barangay Kapitolyo to relocate and level up with a mall location.

Another complaint shared with me was how LGUs simply think that everything is “business as usual” and, to add insult to injury, the LGU expects businesses to report the same or higher revenues each year.

Everybody knows about the massive job losses, business closure, loss of income during the COVID lockdown and quarantines – EXCEPT the assessors and business licensing and LGU finance officials who reject claims of losses and insist on assessing businesses for profits that never happened.

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Our article regarding the Matnog-Allen ports and ferries has encouraged several inputs from disgruntled businesses as well as LGUs who find themselves victimized the same way presidential cousin and Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez had to pay P5,000 times two just to get on a barge at the Allen port.

One “sumbungero” shared that there is a private port that was built by a very high local official of Allen town where vehicles are herded and “facilitated” in order to get priority boarding on the ships crossing to Matnog. Trucks and vehicles that don’t have the budget or petty cash for facilitation have no choice but to queue at the official port of Allen and wait for half a day if not longer.

Sad to say, the private port at Allen is just the latest version of a long existing “terminal” that is two kilometers away from the Matnog port where the same system of processing and facilitation takes place. The strategy is to keep people far away from the port in order to create the impression that there is a long line or delays etc. But instead of a private port where boats can dock, the terminal simply creates a parking lot for collection of “lagay” or bribes in order to get first priority boarding.

To avoid detection and clamp down of the decades-old corruption at the port, a “Blue Lane” was allegedly put up to fast track the movement of food and agricultural deliveries. But it has not helped because part of the scam is that the boats won’t sail until they are full, and they aren’t full until the “operators” get enough customers willing or desperate enough to pay P5,000-up to get priority.

We have already been blessed with a response and commitment from the SILG Benhur Abalos that they will begin to address the many issues concerning abuses and misconceptions at the barangay and municipal/city level starting this week. SILG Abalos should declare national ports “hands off” to LGUs. From here, we are humbly reaching out to DOTr Secretary Jimmy Bautista and his Undersecretary for maritime affairs Elmer Francisco Sarmiento to overhaul the entire system and operations at both the Port of Matnog and Allen town.

Every nautical traveler in the Philippines has complained about the “alas puno” system or sailing only when full and not following schedules. Businesses and travelers operate on schedules and predictability but in the Philippines, ships or boats generally do not follow schedules and are not penalized.

Presidential cousin Alfred Romualdez suggests that the DOTr should impose the same policies on shipping like the CAAP and the NAIA impose on airlines. Make the ferry and shipping firms pay a dear price for their berthing slots and place a fixed time for boarding and loading. Secretary Bautista should also do the same for bus companies and, for both sectors, require them to digitalize and adopt E-banking so passengers can pay online or through GCash.