Tuesday, July 10, 2007 Ledesma: The ire of Duterte By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
THE GOOD things that some taxi drivers do are forgotten because of the abusive drivers who prey on the riding public. They too have no regard for traffic rules and regulations. I am not saying this without basis. Check with the Land Transportation Office the cases of minor and major vehicular accidents and you will discover that over 90 percent of those involved taxis. Look at the taxi units that ply the city streets. Only the brand new units have no scratches and dents on them. Foreigners are amazed why these units, most of them salvaged from the junkyards of Korea and Japan, are still plying the city streets.
Mayor Rody Duterte is angry and we are glad that he has vented his ire on the taxi drivers who had been twitting the law all the while. Yes, I have witnessed several times taxi drivers refusing rides to arriving passengers at the Davao International Airports whose destinations are near. If there's an airport cop watching then they obliged. However along the way they haggle with their passengers who are told to disembark if they refuse to give in to the demanded price of the driver.
First impression is lasting. Arriving passengers get their initial impression of the place from the kind of cabs and cabbies they encounter upon disembarkation. It is not true that only air-conditioned taxis are allowed to pick up passengers at the airport. Even the virtual rolling coffins do. We now have a number of aircon taxis. We ought to give them the exclusive right to pick up incoming passengers so that operators will be able to realize the return of their investment quickly. This will also encourage them to invest on new units and dispose of the old to the junkyards where they had been consigned to long time ago.
Mayor Duterte has specifically named some of the drivers who had been tagged as menace to the riding public. The LTO should take hint and move to revoke their license.
Traffic cops should not fraternize with drivers and owners of vehicles as this invites abuse. Look at what is happening at the Davao International Airport. The elite are given undue advantage over the hoi polloi like me. Their drivers do not park at the parking space, they are allowed to wait in the arrival lane for their "important" passengers. The rest of us cannot even cross the line to meet and help our guests tow their luggage. But the elite and some untouchable government officials are allowed to have their flashy vehicles park on the restricted lane. Why? Is P10 parking fee too much or they just want to flaunt their "special status" to the rest of those who have to suffer the heat of the tarpaulin covered shed. How come Task Force Davao and the lousy-dressed airport police tolerate this? If Mayor Duterte is angry, we too are irate over this apparent inutility of policemen at the Davao International Airport. And I thought the security there is always maintained in high alert.
First impression lasts. Don't you know that there are also "multi-cabs" picking up passengers at the airport? It's okay if they look anything closer to our colorful jeepney units which are tourist attractions but these multi-cabs are eyesores. Not that I am against it but these should be plying in other routes. I don't know why they are being tolerated. The guys at Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) should make clear whether the route of those jeeps really include going inside the airport vehicular terminal or just at the vicinity of the road that leads to the airport terminal.
This is a hodgepodge of intolerable things that involve taxis and what are obtaining at the airport. It's a mixture that makes the temper boil. Having seen these iniquities undiminished despite Mayor Duterte's strict adherence to law, order and discipline and his stern warnings time and again, we cannot blame the mayor if he blows his top. Even lesser mortals like us are angry too.
I am just discussing the cabbies' excesses at the airport. The abuses in the city's streets, malls and other places in the city proper are more numerous and infuriating. The real question is: why couldn't Filipino taxi drivers be as well-behaved and service-oriented as the ones abroad? Does the fault lie in the indiscriminate issuance of driver's license to just about anyone, even those who can not comprehend what elementary service means?
