FROM flying a kite to climbing trees, playing on swings, doing karate kicks, or riding down a zip line, anything can go wrong.
And where there’s an onlooker, the mistake can leave the misguided adventurer in great pain or humiliation.
Plus being featured on National Geographic Channel’s “The Science of Being Stupid,” where the misadventure gets re-played, often in slow-mo, to show what went wrong and why.
Analysis uses science to present the failure, even how the brain operates, thus explaining the stupidity under the cold eye of science.
“Science of Stupid” first aired in the UK in 2014. In Southeast Asia, it’s hosted by Manila-based Ramon Bautista, UP Diliman professor.
Bautista should study Mandaue City’s processes in the payment of realty taxes, and renewal of business permits.
First: Realty taxes. So there was this full-page ad in Sun.Star Cebu from the Province of Cebu encouraging the early payment of realty taxes for 2016. Full payment before Dec. 30 merited a 20 percent discount, it proudly announced.
Dec. 17, my brother and I decided to pay the realty taxes in one sweep. Though the Cebu City Government made no similar announcement, we went to Cebu City Hall since it was nearest his house.
Of course, there was the usual bureaucratic delay. The person-in-charge was not back from lunch break, and they were still offline.
Seeing perhaps how I kept checking my watch, the officemates went manual, and then we were done. So, off we went to Consolacion.
No, there was no 20 percent discount; Consolacion allowed only 10 percent. Since people’s minds were on Christmas mode, few were at the tax assessor’s office. The process was a breeze; in 15 minutes, we paid and got our receipt. On to Mandaue City for our last stop.
Except that payment was going to take forever.
The employees at the City Treasurer’s Office refused to receipt our payment. Kuno, the system was not yet up. Kuno, the receipts were not yet ready. And, by the way, only 10 percent discount was allowed.
Next year (2016) na lang, they said, since the discount was until March.
Why the ad in Sun.Star if they were not ready for payments? Wasn’t that stupid?
The answer: “Dili kami ang nagpa-advertise ato.” My English friend would’ve said, “No respect for our time, these blokes!”
Second: Renewal of business permits.
Jan. 11, Mandaue City stated via Sun.Star that it (1) would collect P1 b illion this year from business permits from 14,000 businesses; (2) late renewal would mean penalties of 25 percent of tax dues, plus P5,000 in administrative penalty; and (3) the Jan. 20 deadline would not be extended.
Jan. 20, Mandaue City processed only 11.3 percent of the target. So deadline is extended to Feb. 4. Not the taxpayers’ fault, said City Treasurer Regal Oliva.
A deluge of excuses included a slow computer system. No wonder, it took our rep four days to complete our business permit renewal. Tuesday she was priority number 1369. Wednesday and Friday she went back, but could not pay; only on Saturday morning was she attended to.
A new computer system was to have been bought, said Oliva. But it was wrongly charged to maintenance and operating system, instead of capital outlay. Now, wasn’t that stupid?
(lelani.echaves@gmail.com)