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!"

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