There’s more fantasy in the Philippines 

The Philippine Star
Cito Beltran - June 15, 2015

 Provided by The Philippine Star



“5-6” it is how we call Usury in the lives of everyday Filipinos.

It is the double bladed sword that Filipinos grip with both hands as their last and final choice to deal with their financial desperation. It is the curse not the solution that poor Filipinos opt for to find capital, pay for their ticket abroad as OFW, or sustain their businesses in the underground economy. It is the criminal version of “bridge financing” that authorities turn a blind eye to and call “the necessary evil.”

It is also the best evidence that the government, our financial institutions, as well as the best and brightest money managers and financial wizards of the Philippines have chosen NOT to do anything to change the situation and to replace 5-6 or institutionalized usury. It is a testament to their indifference and lack of patriotism.

While we herald awards given to the leaders of banking and finance in the Philippines, it is ironic that almost weekly I hear of stories of Filipinos ending up in bankruptcy, selling their meager possessions or ending up working for the 5-6 collector who gets whatever money lands in their ATM or are sent via remittance from abroad. Perhaps it is true that banking and finance in the Philippines has no soul and no interest in uplifting ordinary Filipinos from poverty. If only the “rich” get richer, it is because bankers and finance experts have actively and intentionally abandoned and “fed” Filipinos to 5-6 moneylenders.

How else can we explain why the sector has not acted against 5-6 even if Filipinos are willing to take this financial poison pill and pay day after day to “foreigners” on motorcycles who are willing to collect payments on a daily basis and make profits from usury? Doesn’t that tell us, and government, that these hard working but poor Filipinos have the capacity and the moral character to meet their obligations? Given the millions of dollars or pesos that bankers and finance gurus get as salary from financial institutions, you’d think that they would have a drop of mercy and generosity in their blood if not in their souls.

You’d think that they would at least consider giving back to the country and their people if not in cash at least by applying their skills and knowledge to eradicate 5-6, but they don’t. 5-6 does not bother them because they are detached from the thousands if not millions of Filipinos who are presently in financial slavery! Thinking back, I know of many men and women who went to the University of the Philippines as “Iskolars Ng Bayan” bankrolled by taxpayers. But they have spent several decades making banks, corporations or financial institutions rich, but failing to payback the “Taong Bayan.”

5-6 is not a racial joke it is financial slavery.

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For several weeks now, motorists coming from C-5 going south into SLEX have been experiencing traffic or slow down at the C-5 – SLEX toll gate and the Alabang toll plaza. The common observation is that the counter flow E-pass lane set up for the morning rush hour into Makati-Taguig is left in place even after the rush hour is long finished and there are hardly any cars using the counter flow E-pass lane. As a result, cars heading south end up choked in traffic as three lanes jam into one and a half lane.  This never used to be a problem but laziness or forgetfulness has clearly set-in. In fact some of the security personnel have commented that managers have been remiss in supervising the lane shift during rush hour causing motorists to get annoyed by the unnecessary delays.

The same problem seems to cause the traffic build up just before the Alabang exit where a team in a patrol car as well as lane separators could make a big difference in regulating vehicles and making sure that cars going into Alabang don’t pile up at the mouth of the toll plaza. Again it’s lack of supervision on the part of SLEX management.

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Under normal circumstance, one would expect even better services if the Office of the President of the Philippines takes over the functions of a particular government agency or service. In this case, when the OP took control of the “C” from DOTC or Communications from the Department of Transportation and Communications, people wrongly assumed they would get better services. Unfortunately that did not happen. What happened is…nothing happened, nothing improved.

Millions of Filipino internet subscribers have been getting more vocal in their complaints that the Philippines has the slowest speeds and lowest quality internet services but are paying the highest prices among the ASEAN countries, but the Office of President Noynoy Aquino can’t seem to do anything, not even pressure or force telecoms companies to at least deliver what we pay for.

In the meantime, lawmakers and LGUs have been talking about Free Internet access or Free WiFi service in all government offices and public places in order to increase the country’s competitiveness and attract foreign investors. Making Internet and WiFi free and accessible will simply make the current crawl of Internet speed become even slower!

Our airports can get all the facelifts but if planes still cannot land and take off on time how can we be an attractive investment area? If employees have no access to dependable, reliable and on-time mass transit systems, how can employers expect on time attendance and performance from employees?  If we don’t have a real railway and shipping industry as competitive and dependable as Singapore, Malaysia or Hong Kong, how can we in all honesty even talk about attracting Foreign Direct Investments or imagine our country as being competitive?

Unless PNoy can improve these basic requirements the only realistic thing his misadministration can do is to rewrite their tourism campaign from It’s More Fun in the Philippines to “There’s more Fantasy in the Philippines.”

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Source:  http://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/opinion/there%E2%80%99s-more-fantasy-in-the-philippines/ar-BBl8pHh