Skip to main content

Would You Rather Endure Faulty and/or ARROGANT Filipino Transportation Services Because of Filipino First?

Cabalen AETA Farmers & Partners

While looking for something new to write today, I found this meme on Facebook. I remember my college days when I would ride a taxi to go home. Sure, I rode a jeepney but there were limits to where the jeepneys were allowed to enter. I'd like to share my experience with snob taxi drivers. These people have had all their excuses. I'll translate some of the captions above for non-Tagalog speakers. "Traffic 'don!" means "It's traffic there!" "Malayo!" means "Far!" "Ban Uuber and Crab! Ito lang kabuhayan natin!" means "Ban Uuber and Crab! It's our only livelihood!" A lot of Filipinos may have faced these types of snob taxi drivers.

Some time ago, I wrote an article asking if one would be willing to eat rotten meat in an isolated-type Philippines. Another question is whether one would endure faulty and/or arrogant Filipino transportation services. That's endure such fools in the name of Filipino First. One might say, "Man! Think about the local taxi drivers driven by foreign services!" Never mind that when one gets a Grab or Uber driver in the Philippines, the driver isn't from Singapore or the USA. Instead, the drivers of Grab Philippines and Uber Philippines are Filipinos. Yes, I don't see Singaporeans or Americans driving these services. Their drivers are Filipinos because they're from the Philippine branch. So much for saying that FDIs won't provide jobs for Filipinos (read here)!


All the cries for "nationalism" are hypocritical. I wrote an article daring proponents of self-industrialization to find purely Filipino equipment. None of the taxis used by these drivers who may want to ban Grab and Uber are Filipino-made. There may be some car factories in the Philippines but the brands are imported. For example, Toyota (my favorite brand nonetheless) is from Japan. Before they cry for Filipino Pride, I dare these idiots to assemble their own cars first. Part of the challenge is that these parts must also be proudly Filipino-made. The harsh truth is that it's plain impossible!


Filipino First Policy lacks the pragmatism that Kishore Mahbubani of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) recommends. Just because Mahbubani said the statement above doesn't mean nothing is wrong with the current 1987 Consitution of the Philippines. If the 1987 Constitution was meant to be set in stone. Article XVII says that the Philippine constitution is open for revisions. Revisions like deleting the Negative List in the Philippines should've been done years ago. Instead, others treated the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines like it was some "divine revelation from Heaven". That was never the intent of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines! It was never meant to be unamended to fit in with the situation. Right now, even Atty. Antonio Carpio, a former member of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, now supports economic amendments! 

Let's take for example two foreign companies that helped Filipino food businesses (read here). Any good Filipino business could care less if what can help their business prosper is Filipino or foreign (read here). One of the jokes I wrote was about using a pushcart to perform delivery services for Filipino products. The Filipino entrepreneur who takes the pragmatic approach will say, " I don't care if the service is Filipino or foreign. What matters to me is that it will help my business prosper." That's why I was able to enjoy a lot of Filipino-made foods before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and now. I could order food from Chika-An and Golden Cowrie, delivered by either Grab or Food Panda. the driver that dropped it wasn't Singaporean or German--it was my fellow Filipino. 

Instead, Filipinos should learn to be flexible around local investments and FDIs. They would want to get local-based raw materials because of availability. However, only some things of high quality are available locally. Getting quality transportation service is also important. Instead, it takes on Deng Xiaoping's pragmatic approach, "It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white. What's important is that it catches mice!" 

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The 2026 Iran War Audit vs. OFW-Reliant Pinoy Pride Economists

It's a shame, really, that I didn't think about writing this article on OFWs again. I got somewhat fixated on the  gas prices , and my mind was exhausted. I thought about how I even asked, " Will #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba economics even lower down the prices of gasoline? " It's one thing that the Philippines has been overly reliant  on the Middle East for gasoline. What I overlooked was the OFW phenomenon again . It was so easy to hype on the OFW phenomenon, like what happened with the Filipino nurse, Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, way back in 2015. The OFW hype would've compounded the Philippine economy's "reliance model" to a whole new level of bottleneck!  Analyzing the bottleneck of relying on the Middle East It's already a known fact that several OFWs are sent to the Middle East. I even remember running across a presumably retired dancer who would be 64 today, on Facebook. The guy actually bragged about how he was a dancer at the Excelsior Hotel in...
Read more

Toxic Positivity: Shielding Our ECONOMICALLY OUTDATED Constitution

ABS-CBN News I thought about what life was like in the late 1990s. It was a boomer vs. millennial clash . I remember how often I kept complaining about high school during the K+10 era. Even worse, the real problem why I hated school was that school cared more about grades for the sake of grades , instead of teaching students how to get good grades based on learning first. What may have compounded it is that we've had boomer parents who thought that fatigue is a badge of honor .  What I realized is the common problem of toxic positivity . We have the "good vibes only" or "everything will turn out right in the end". Sadly, life doesn't always turn out that way. You can tell a terminally ill cancer patient that, and the cancer patient would die anyway. No amount of toxic positivity ever fixes the problem. This time, I'd like to rant once more about how toxic positivity has been used to defend the outdated 1987 Constitutio of the Philippines.  The classic r...
Read more

How is IBON Foundation Viewing and/or Representing FDI in Their Articles?

Some time ago, I wrote about why I can't take IBON Foundation seriously . As the battle for economic charter change is on, I believe it's time to tackle them again. They're tweeting here and there. Okay, I'm no researcher or organization. However, it doesn't mean that I can't do some basic research, share the research of others, and read other books. Even an intellectually stupid person can actually make sense if they gather the best materials. I even recall someone I know who's not intelligent but he actually spoke well about career opportunities, in the very school where he wasn't performing well! Trying to understand IBON's data presentation  I would like to address how IBON Foundation presents FDI growth. They would say stuff such as the claim job creation weakened despite FDI growth .  I was looking at IBON Foundation's claim (above) where it says that job creation allegedly weakened despite FDI inflows. Sure, they named sources but do they ...
Read more

A Destructive Obsession with Ayuda (Cash Handouts)

IBON Foundation Yesterday, I decided to write about how Pinoy Pride won't help pay that enormous PHP 13.42 Trillion debt . I thought I'd probably take a bit of a break to do some more research. However, I feel the need to write this post today since one of IBON Foundation's articles says that there's a destructive fetish for foreign investment . Then, another of IBON Foundation's articles says that there's money for Ayuda . I really feel insulted reading these since I'm a Masters Degree graduate in the School of Business and Economics. This really shows the destructive obsession with ayuda (cash handouts) and protectionism. IBON Foundation Above is one of IBON Foundation's charts. Some people on Facebook have gone as far as to call them Birdbrain Foundation. So what if there's money for ayuda or cash handouts? The problem here is that "think tanks" like IBON Foundation want to make it look like ayuda is more important. If asked to account ...
Read more

"Will #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba Economics Lower Philippine Gas Prices?

Inquirer Gasoline prices have increased again, haven't they?  A few days ago, I wrote  why #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba's view of gas prices is questionable . Today, I feel like writing this after several complaints on Facebook. I would like to create a follow-up post. People are complaining too much without understanding the real reason why some countries have lower prices of gasoline. Real talk. We need to talk about economic policies,  and  of course, please do a study on supply-demand analysis  on supply chain management . Let's examine the complaints made by Bulatlat Bulatlat Here's a chart from Bulatlat that compares the increase in prices of gasoline between the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia. It's always problematic when people ignore simple economics. It's funny, but Bulatlat mentions this on their website: Note also how expensive our diesel and gasoline products are compared to those of our ASEAN neighbors. The estimated common price today of diesel in...
Read more