Penalizing pedestrians in Makati, Part 2

I already posted last March about Makati City hall officers and bureaucrats penalizing pedestrians crossing this part of Buendia or Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. The issues here for me are the following:

(1) NO sign of pedestrian crossing not allowed,
(2) NO info of any local ordinance, barangay or city hall that prohibits people from crossing this side of Buendia,

(3) NO warning of 1st time "offenders" who actually crossed the street, outright collection of penalty (about P250) or confiscation of  an ID is immediately imposed,
(4) NO warning of potential "offenders" who did not actually cross the street, outright collection  of penalty or confiscation of an ID
(5) NO distinct uniforms by the apprehending bureaucrats (like yellow shirts of MAPSA, blue shirts of MAPA, light blue shirts of the PNP), they wear different dresses, and
(6) Why impose lots of prohibitions, NOs, to ordinary people?
Ordinary people do not drive cars too often, they commute, so they walk in various streets to get to their destination at the shortest distance/time possible.

Here, one officer (the fat guy) harassing two ordinary people, they look "probinsyano" and may not be aware of the various prohibitions and NOs of Makati.

The older officer harassing another pedestrian.

Three officers here, one wearing an ordinary shirt (in stripes), the two are wearing red jackets, something like "Makati Action Center".

Two hapless pedestrians confronted by the city hall officers.

I saw this girl, she was about to cross the street but this officer in white collar shirt with no ID called her, so she did actually cross the street, but she was still penalized -- on what crime or violation? I approached the officer why he has no ID, he pulled it from under his shirt, his family name is Tan I think, I hardly read because he quickly returned it under his shirt.

What is the "public service" value of these officers? I think zero, or even negative. We taxpayers already pay for their salaries, bonuses, trainings and meetings, social contributions, future pensions, etc. We pay for all of those and they serve us with what? Penalties and harassment?

I think a better public service work for these and other city hall officers and employees is to clean this creek. I took this photo around late June this year. On the left of this photo is the Makati Central Post office; on the right is a small Makati public park, in the front is the Makati Central fire station where MAPSA is also holding an office. So it is a creek surrounded by government offices and properties, and it is so dirty.

These floating garbage and solid waste should be regularly removed because they largely contribute to frequent street flooding.

Opposite view of the earlier photo. The park on the left, post office on the right, and Buendia in the front, not far from where the "anti-jay walking" officers regularly position themselves. Buendia-Ayala intersection is half-block away on the left.

Are these officers members of MAPSA?
Incidentally, I attended this event last July 13 in Makati City hall open ground. My rotary club was among the sponsoring clubs of the event.

Acting Makati Mayor Kid Pena, can you stop this harassment-penalties of ordinary pedestrians? Instead of prohibiting people from crossing this side of Buendia, there should be a pedestrian lane instead. It's a traffic-choke area most anyway, morning or afternoon, vehicles do not drive fast there. There are many buildings and offices on both sides of this street, so there are many employees and visitors, even university students (CEU) crossing this street often.

And instead of using our tax money to pay for people whose concept of "public service" is public harassment, use our tax money to clear those ugly creeks, especially near Buendia-Ayala.

Thank you.
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See also: 
Towing 2: Confiscating Motorcycles, September 22, 2013

Anti-Smoke Belching Racket, Part 7, February 13, 2015 

Penalizing Pedestrians, Other LGU Prohibitions, March 26, 2015

On Taking Photos of Government Personnel and MAPSA, May 28, 2015

BWorld 4, Public Transport, Colorum Vans and MAPSA, May 29, 2015

Binay Dynasty, 29+ Years in Makati

For the first time in 29 years and 4 months (March 1986 to July 2015), Makati City has experienced a non-Binay as City Mayor. The premier city known as the country's financial center has Jejomar "Jojo" Binay (the country's Vice President, 2010 to present) as Mayor for many years, and in between the max 3-terms limit for Jojo, his wife, Elenita Binay, served as Mayor. Then Jojo goes back again as Mayor. Then when his second set of 3-term limits ended, his son, Jun-jun Binay became Mayor.

The family is accused of plunder and large-scale robbery at the Ombudsman. Mayor Junjun was suspended by the Ombudsman last March over plunder cases in the over-pricing of Makati Parking building. Vice Mayor Kid Pena took his oath as Acting Mayor but Junjun managed to get a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Court of Appeals (CA).

Yesterday, a second suspension order was served by the Ombudsman, over the over-pricing of Makati Science HS building. Again, Junjun and supporters opposed the suspension order. They also ran to the CA to get another TRO but they failed, the CA set various conditions before it would grant another TRO. So Junjun was forced to step down.

The Binay clan is the most extensive political dynasty in the country of all time. Four members of the family are high government officials: (1) VP Jojo Binay, the father; (2) Sen. Nancy Binay, the older daughter; (3) Congresswoman Abigail Binay, the younger daughter; and (4) suspended Mayor Junjun Binay, the son. (5) Mrs. Elenita Binay, the wife, was an ex-Mayor too.

VP Binay's multiple political tentacles continue as he aims to be the next President of the country in 2016. The old man, perhaps approaching 80 years old, is also the President of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) for 1-2 decades now. So greedy with power and the various perks and privileges associated with the BSP, he never relinquished this organization of mostly elementary school students nationwide.

Last week, the VP resigned from his Cabinet positions in the PNoy government, particularly as head of HUDCC and another body in charge of OFWs. His position there for several years is also known for some corruption scandals.

Sen. Koko Pimentel asked him to attend a Senate investigation about those corruption allegations. The VP sent this arrogant letter to the Senator.

"Magpakalalaki ka", hehehe. Too bad for him, Sen. Pimentel is more transparent, more "manly" than him and sent him this reply.

The VP is scared when challenged to public testimonies -- at the Senate, at the Ombudsman -- so he can disprove serious accusations and allegations of plunder and large-scale robbery.

VP Binay, you should change tack now. If there is nothing to hide, face those accusers. But if you have lots to hide, better back off from your Presidential ambition, admit wrong doing and ask for forgiveness from the public.

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See also:
Branding Via Clans, Not Philosophy, April 05, 2013
Weekend Fun 41: Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, Other Politicians, May 25, 2013 
Weekend Fun 52: Nixon had Watergate, Binay has Dasma Gate, December 20, 2013
 Dr. Doy Romero on Binay, Roxas and Grace Poe, June 01, 2015  
Bernard Ong's Analysis on Binay, Poe, June 21, 2015

BWorld 8, Manila's Traffic and Transport Woes

* This is my article in BusinessWorld Weekender yesterday.
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Metro Manila’s transport woes and the aircon-van alternative 

ELLEN is a senior accountant in one of the offices on Ayala Avenue, Makati City. She lives in Dapitan, Manila. Her father has a car that she can borrow occasionally and drive to Makati but she has little patience enduring the traffic congestion, then paying high parking fees in Makati. So she takes public transportation.

If she takes the regular transportation route to Ayala, that means three rides: jeep from Dapitan to LRT Tayuman Station, then LRT to Buendia Station, then aircon bus to Ayala. Total fare would be P35 but travel time will be between 1.5 and 2 hours one way due to the traffic and the inconvenience of walking and queuing to ride the train then the bus.

There is an alternative to multiple and inconvenient rides, the air-con vans. Only one ride from Dapitan to Makati, travel time is one hour or less, fare is P60 for the legal, franchised vans up to Ayala, and P45 for the non-franchised “colorum” vans that stop only at Makati Central Post Office, at the Buendia-Ayala intersection. To save money, she takes the “colorum” van, gets off at Makati Post Office, then walks two blocks to her office.

While the colorum van drivers can somehow deal with the “yellow boys,” officers of the Makati Public Safety Authority (MAPSA), they will have difficulty dealing with another bureaucracy, the “blue boys” of the Makati Parking Authority (MAPA) keeping watch on Ayala Avenue. These officers are often stricter and more inclined, shall we just say, to slapping penalties on both public and private vehicles.

SERIAL HARASSMENT

Being robbed in an air-con van by a fellow passenger is a possibility, of course, but that risk is minimal, compared with the risk of being robbed in a jeepney or on the streets, as one commutes from one ride to the next. It is also inconvenient, obviously, to be out in the streets when it is raining and the streets are flooded.

Queuing at Dapitan can be long, because of the many residents who commute to Makati where they work, and the number of aircon vans is not enough. Normally, Ellen would be in a queue for 30 to 45 minutes until a new, empty van arrives, but she prefers the relative convenience of taking only one ride in an air-con van.

Therefore, with or without a regular franchise from the LTFRB, those vans provide real public service to regular passengers like Ellen. She feels that her energy and work productivity are higher if she takes the van than if she goes through the three-ride system or drives a car.

Government officials have yet to acknowledge this view, going by the serial harassment of drivers of “colorum” vans -- who can avoid the harassment and penalties if they bribe the officers, but this “cost” is passed on to the passengers, naturally.

Ellen has noticed that a number of these colorum drivers are off-duty policemen or their siblings, even officers at the usual government offices, or barangay chairmen. She believes roughly one-third of these drivers belong to those categories. Asked how she knows this, she says these drivers show their IDs, and they have these unique hand signals that traffic officers recognize to spare these drivers from their usual harassment. This is what happens when you have an observant passenger on board, as opposed to a commuter who is lost in his headset or social media.

HARRIED EMPLOYEES

Makati’s Central Business District (CBD) is a premier area for the Philippine economy. Business groups surely recognize this distinction as sustained through the decades by their harried employees. Data from the city government’s website show that as of 2012, there are 472 banks, 3,279 insurance and other finance-related institutions, and 48 shopping malls in Makati. Data as of 2013 show that there are 41 PEZA-registered IT buildings, 47 embassies, 40 consulates, and 20 international organizations like the UN and its various offices located in the city.

These banks, hotels, shops, restaurants, malls, and other establishments employ roughly a few hundred thousands of people. Those employees, from the clerical to the managerial levels, need convenient transportation to be able to arrive at their offices promptly and render efficient work. Otherwise, employees beyond the frontline services may be spared the trouble of commuting to work, but many employers are still not open-minded enough to accommodate flexible time or work from home -- options that should ease Metro Manila traffic considerably.

This daily scenario is common everywhere in the National Capital Region, which, in the given year of 2013, contributed P4.29 trillion or 37.2% of P11.55 trillion in GDP. In the services sector in particular, 2013’s national output at current prices was P6.66 trillion, of which P3.49 trillion or 52.7% was contributed by the NCR.

The NCR’s registered population in 2013 was 12.5 million or only 12.8 percent of the total Philippine population of 98.2 million that year. But NCR’s weekday population can soar up to 15 million, as residents, including university students, from the neighboring big provinces of Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, and Pampanga would troop to the NCR to do various businesses.

The development of an integrated and efficient public transport system, as existing in developed economies in Asia and Europe, is the best long-term solution to Metro Manila’s traffic woes. That dream has been articulated for decades, until the gap in public transportation is now being filled by private initiative, to the chagrin of government.

The absence of an efficient and integrated public transport system in Metro Manila can be considered as due both to market failure and government failure. The appearance of air-con vans and other ride-sharing schemes like Uber is a market solution to such previous market failure. Government should not over-bureaucratize and over-tax these transport innovations. By stepping back from too much regulation and taxation, government effectively renders public service.

The services of air-con vans that provide workers and employees with convenient and direct public transportation, similar to school buses that transport students from their homes to school, are the next best thing for people who don’t or would rather not drive and brave the traffic. This is public service, providing an efficient, fast, economical, and safe car pooling system.

But when government agencies and their officers make the franchising system of air-con vans very costly and bureaucratic, many operators skip the franchise system and become “colorum” operators. To avoid the harsh penalties and regular harassment, they must bribe traffic enforcers, and this further compounds the culture of corruption in government. -- Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. 

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See also: 

BWorld 4, Public Transport, Colorum Vans and MAPSA, May 29, 2015 

BWorld 5, Transportation Bureaucracy and Uber, June 16, 2015 

BWorld 6, Biotechnology, Innovation and the Philippines, June 19, 2015 

BWorld 7, Free Trade vs.Protectionism via Non-Tariff Measures, June 26, 2015 

Fat-Free Econ 45: Newton's Laws of Motion and Traffic Congestion, August 11, 2014

Transport Econ 10: MMDA and Car Ban, July 18, 2013 

Transport Econ 11: On Fare-Contracting Taxi Drivers, December 13, 2013 

Transport Econ 13: On Prohibiting S. Luzon Provincial Buses to Enter M.Manila, August 30, 2014 

Transport Econ 14: On the MRT and LRT Fare Hike, January 06, 2015

Market Reforms in the 2016 Elections

A friend and  fellow UPSE alumni, Gary, posted in our SE alumni ygroups, a crowd-sourcing of reform agenda for the next President in 2016. He asked us to suggest top three economic initiatives that we believe would be real game-changers for the country. They could be new reforms, or reversals of current policies. Can be outrageous as long as they're not just motherhood and apple pie statements (like "build more infrastructure"). Also explain the world view behind them and practical action agenda to make them happen.

Gary started with his own three:

i. Amend the Constitution to allow totally unrestricted foreign economic participation (investment and labor).

ii. Abrogate land reform and redirect the buy-out funds elsewhere in agriculture.

iii. Abolish the minimum wage (or at least allow people to opt out).

The underlying worldview: The PH now enjoys good macro and fiscal fundamentals thanks only to four reasons: OFW's, BPO, EVAT reform, and a conservative BSP. The problem is, all that liquidity does not automatically translate into productivity gains, which by any economic theory is the only way to enlarge the economic pie instead of just endlessly redistributing it. My suggestions help us get there.

Action agendas: On (i) Charter change in any of its possible forms. On (ii) and (iii), legislative initiatives backed by a lot of media campaigning and political lobbying. And, hopefully, adoption into a campaign platform and/or governance agenda.

I support Gary’s 3 proposals. Have LESS government restrictions and prohibitions, it should NOT restrict (1) foreign investments and  competition, (2) big land ownership, especially corporate farming, and (3) free contract between employers and employees.

Investment (and trade) protectionism, endless and no timetable agrarian reform, endless government-imposed minimum wage -- all are social engineering by lovers of big and intrusive government.

Below are my top 3 reform agenda:

1. Cut income tax, personal  and corporate, max 15% or 18%. Indonesia’s President Jokowi has joined tax competition in  Asia, they cut their income tax from about 25% to 17% (Singapore level).

2. Unilateral trade liberalization, both goods and services. In rice trading in particular, remove NFA marketing and trading function, regulatory function only. Privatize its huge and many warehouses, trucks, etc., proceeds to be used to reduce its huge public debt.

3. Abrogate or significantly amend the Renewable Energy (RE) Act of 2008 (RA 9513), the renewables cronyism law. Extortionist provisions like the feed in tariff (FIT) and renewable portfolio standards (RPS) should be removed. The PH has the 2nd or 3rd most expensive electricity prices in Asia, the RE law will make  it even more expensive.

Example of how stupid that law is: Say midnight of any day, coal power plant will offer power at only P0.50/kWh or even less for a few MW, then wind power comes also with FIT or guaranteed minimum of P8+/kWh. The national grid (NGCP) is forced, coerced and arm-twisted by the law to dispatch power from expensive wind and turn  down the cheap power offered by a coal plant. Wind and solar power are cronies (solar FIT is P9+/kWh).

Some LGUs have dark  streets because electricity is expensive. And we know what often happens when streets are dark -- more vehicular accidents, more crimes, more death and injuries to people. These are real dangers to people’s lives and their properties, more real dangers than that far out “man-made” climate change of more rain and less rain, more flood and  less flood, more storms and less storms, more dogs  and less dogs.

About Makati, here are some of my observations:

1. High local taxes and fees. I saw a business permit of a start up, small office in  Makati.  Above photo is barangay permit + business plate, P1,600 + P300, total P1,900, barangay alone. Lower photo, Makati City Hall’s permits and fees, P23,785.

Not included are BIR, SSS, SEC, other. fees. Also not included are rumored extortion by some  LGU officials if one does not know enough high officials inside. The business has not started yet and the taxes and fees are already high. Then when the enterprise starts operating, there are monthly payments to the BIR, SSS, PhilHealth, PagIBIG.

2. Lots of Nos and Prohibitions. Which are signs of a lover of BIG government. Vans that bring ordinary office workers from their houses to Ayala avenue are being apprehended left and right. These people have no cars, or may have cars but are tired to drive in heavy traffic. The alternative is 3-4 rides from house to makati, one way, meaning 6-8 rides a day. If one wears corporate attire, or carrying a laptop or important documents, then ride a tricycle, then jeepney or bus, then squeeze in another bus or MRT, then  take another jeepney ride. Repeat the ordeal going home. The aircon vans ("colorum" daw) are market solutions to the hassles of driving in heavy traffic, or  taking 6-8 rides a day. Yet many of these vans are prohibited and are flagged down, harassed and penalized.  

3. Many lousy welfarist programs advertised in Ayala pedestrian underpasses -- free movies daily, free vitamins, supplements, monthly, etc. for  senior citizens,  Rich or poor can  avail of these welfarist programs.

Compare #1 and #3, over-taxing people and entrepreneurs even if they have other personal and household needs, part of the money to be used for movies and free vitamins even if the senior citizens are economically well-off.

Manila Flooding Torture

This afternoon, around 3:15pm, there was heavy rain for an hour in Makati, then light rains for the next 20 minutes or so. Many parts of Metro Manila experienced such downpour, also some surrounding provinces. Many streets were flooded.

(photo from ANC24; descent from Skyway, going to Buendia intersection, Makati)

Heaaaavvyy traffic followed in many areas of the metropolis, especially in Buendia and Ayala Avenue in Makati.  Productivity losses today is big; fuel consumption by cars and buses is big. I think this unresolved flooding in many Makati streets will affect the candidacy of VP Binay in 2016.

That area at the PNR rails, Mayapis st-Buendia near SLEX flyover, is a perennial headache. Flash flood from Ayala, Buendia, other streets go to that small and narrow creek. The Binays were the Mayors (father, mother, now the son) of Makati for 28 years now, uninterrupted. They could have done something significant in that area. 

(photo from inquirer.net; Skyway and Buendia-SLEX intersection below, Makati)

One reason why I support another reclamation project in Manila Bay is that the many creeks and rivers in the metropolis need large scale, monster and sustained dredging. Get all those mud, soil and solid wastes and dump them not in sanitary landfills in Quezon City or Montalban or Bulacan, but in a new land to be created at Manila Bay. It's the quickest and cheapest solution that I can think of to minimize frequent street flooding in Makati, other cities of Metro Manila.

A friend suggested that the projected sea level rise will endanger MM and other major urban centers of the country. Well, that projected sea level rise is more alarmist and sensational than realistic. A good paper from Ed Caryl in NTZ, Data Show Holocene Sea Levels TrendingDownwards…2 Meters Higher 4000 And 7000 Years Ago! (05 May 2014),

In the last 8000 years, sea level has been substantially higher than at present, up to 2 meters or more higher in two periods four to seven thousand years ago. Sea level during the Holocene has been falling since that period.

(See level rise from 22,000 to 6,000 years ago.)

A friend who has worked for more than 15 years in Makati, Eniale S.,said that there was major drainage re-piping on both sides of the railroad (intersection Buendia & SLEX) from former Eastern Telecoms and where the new Cash n' Carry is now, across the railroad up to Makati Med area. Huge drainage pipes, diameters that can accommodate a regular-sized car, and heavy equipment were used for more than a year. 

The creek in that area, Mayapis St. along the rail tracks, is simply too narrow, too shallow, to absorb huge volume of flood waters from many parts of Makati.

Good project by the Makati City government then. But I think the drainage is not regularly dredged. Just one heavy flash flood can bring in tons of mud and solid waste into the belly of those drainage pipes, and there are many flash floods yearly. If they are not cleared and dredged yearly, perhaps even a tricycle would no longer fit in those huge pipes. And that contributes to frequent street flooding.

It's a pity that Buendia-Ayala-Pasay Road network is where the employees, managers and CEOs of many of the country's big companies and financial institutions pass daily, and they are subjected to this regular traffic torture. 

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See also:
Climate Tricks 23: Using Typhoon Haiyan for Climate and Energy Rent-Seeking, November 30, 2013 
Global Warming Hits the Philippines, Part 3, January 26, 2014 
Climate Tricks 27: More Risks and Danger Ahead, Send More Money to the UN, April 01, 2014

Towing 2: Confiscating Motorcycles

Towing "illegally parked" cars, motorcycles and other vehicles, impound them to a certain area and release them after payment of penalty -- I think P500 or P1,000 for motorcycles and P1,500 for cars -- is among the revenue sources of certain local government units (LGUs) as being done by almost all cities in Metro Manila.

Last Friday afternoon, around 3:25pm at the back of Skyland Tower, in front of Tiara Oriental Hotel, Malugay St., Makati, a man briefly left his motorcycle here to buy fishball or what. I don't think it was "illegally parked" as there were two other vehicles on that side of the building that was parked, but their drivers were inside.

Then a towing truck by the Makati City government came and three men immediately carried the motrcycle. The motorcycle driver or owner who was just a few meters away ran to protest and pulled his motorcycle down.

It caused a minor commotion as the three men insisted on impounding the motorcycle while the owner/driver was pulling it down. The motorcycle driver's woman companion was also there and pleaded to the three men to release the motorcycle. The bigger man, standing on the truck, was angry that he nearly got bruises in the tug of war over the motorcycle.

Here's the short video that I took. I did not get the name of the MAPSA officer who ordered taking the motorcycle. That big man in green later shouted at me and asked why I was taking the video. Not wanting to argue with goons like him, I said "Pang report ko po sa Rotary". He demanded, "Anong Rotary?" I said "Si Mayor Binay, Rotarian yon". "Sinong Major Binay?" was his angry reply. I repeated, "Si Mayor Binay!" and he kept silent.

The smaller and thin man was insistent on taking the motorcycle. How much do they earn, their commission, for each impounded vehicle and motorcycle? I see greed in their faces often.

The woman was able to persuade the MAPSA officer to let go of their motorcycle. Maybe he was ashamed that many people were looking at him and the commotion that his team has created.

And a day before that, last Thursday, around 12:40pm, same area, at the back of Axa building in Malugay St., this car was being towed, possibly by the same truck. It's a vacant lot, no traffic congestion, no sign of "No Parking", only "One Way" sign is posted there.

Woe unto the owner of those cars that are towed. The hand brake would normally loosen if not damaged. Also a brief emotional anguish on the car owner not finding his/her car on the slot it was parked, thinking that it was carnapped and stolen by some criminals.

Very often, chaos in society is government-created, national or local government.
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See also: 
MMDA, LGUs and Towing Racket, November 26, 2013 
Anti-Smoke Belching Racket, Part 5, April 02, 2013 
Rule of Law 20: PNP and Rule of Men, April 21, 2013

(Not so) Dirty Creeks 2: Makati again

My first posting on this subject was last January 18, 2011, Dirty creeks 1: Makati. Here are two of the six photos that I showed there. This is on a creek in front of Makati Medical Center (MMC), a known and expensive hospital in the country.

A few months after I posted it, I noticed that the creek has been regularly cleaned. A personnel of Barangay San Lorenzo where this creek belongs, wrote in the comment section,

"dear sir,
FYI , barangay San Lorenzo has already assigned creek cleaners who will clean, dessilt the garbages in urban creek area. thats beside the mapa office near makati med.they were assigned to clean it regularly.
thank you"

I checked the creek and there was indeed a regular cleaner boat there. Here are the photos I took sometime in early July 2012, about a month ago.

The solid wastes floating on the creek are gone, nice to see this. Of course the water is not really clean, it came from upstream.

Here, notice the informal settlers just beside the creek, this is in front of MMC.

In that posting last year, I also showed photos of a creek in Barangay San Antonio. It was dirty. Now it is clean, here are photos I took last week, early August 2012. There are wild plants and trees that grow on the creek. They are unsafe because some dangerous wild animals would be hiding there. Or worse, some criminals being chased can jump into the creek and hide behind those thick shrubs and trees.

It is good that the Makati City government, not the barangay government, ordered the cleaning of this creek. Lower photos are among the tree parts and mud that were collected, to be transported by trucks.

I am happy that the local government is doing its job cleaning dirty creeks. Makati is the financial center of the Philippines. It is not good that the surroundings like its small creeks are dirty and ugly. I hope that such clean up will be done regularly.