Unauthorized solicitations/ Legalization of motor taxis
>> Tuesday, February 21, 2023
BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon
BAGUIO CITY – Scams abound nowadays, not even sparing City Hall here. Enterprising individuals tried to use the city government last week to gain money through nefarious ways, according to a report from the city information office.
This, after the Persons with Disability Affairs Office under the City Mayor’s Office warned the public against a certain PhilDeaf Basketball League soliciting sponsorships for their supposed sports event in Dagupan and San Jose City.
The group claimed in their solicitation letter they were the official representatives of the city government of Baguio using an unofficial seal.
The letter was riddled with grammatical errors.
However, upon verification of records, the PDAO found no name of the listed deaf basketball players led by a certain Ruben G. Paul.
“Please be informed that as per records of PDAO-City Mayor’s Office, the names herein are not registered persons with disability in the City of Baguio,” the PDAO warned.
The supposed deaf players listed were: Jess Lasus, Rodel lolong, Arvin Landicho, Rolly Abaraquez, Gerald Arboleda, John Agarao, Antoino Banez Jr., Jelly Cabato San, Renz Miranda, Kenneth Cainto, Mark Piolo and Ruben G. Paul.
***
The group was soliciting sponsorship for their uniform, fare, registration fee and meal expenses in the guise of representing the deaf community of Baguio.
Last month, the PDAO also advised the public to be vigilant against individuals using fake identification cards as PWDs (persons with disabilities) to avail of discounts.
This, after an establishment in the city complained of a group of tourists from Manila City where eight out of the 13 individuals used fake PWD IDs.
To verify authenticity of PWD IDs, Aquino urged individuals and establishments to directly coordinate with the issuing LGUs reflected in the cards.
For Baguio City, the telephone number is 442-7228.
***
Manila 3rd District Representative Joel Chua has filed a bill seeking to legalize and regulate the operation of motorcycles-for-hire, which is proven to be affordable, reliable, safe and convenient for daily commuters.
Here in Baguio, motorcycles-for-hire have reportedly proliferated making officials warn these were illegal and licenses or franchises of users should be confiscated. (See related story in page A).
Anyway Chua authored the measure saying there was need to address the growing need for more alternative transport options and, at the same time, create more job opportunities for many Filipinos.
“Lack of mobility and traffic congestion remain to be a significant hurdle to economic growth and individual well-being in the country. Due to inadequate public transport options, many Filipinos turn to private vehicles, but one transport solution that has proven to be reliable, safe, convenient, and affordable is motorcycle taxis,” Chua was quoted in a PNA report.
***
The solon cited as an example the situation being experienced by his constituents in Manila where he actually saw working people relying on motorcycle taxis. He said even his own office staff were in fact using the same transportation service every day.
House Bill No. 7034 or the “Motorcycles-for-Hire Act”, intends to allow regulated operation of motorcycles-for-hire to provide the riding public with an alternative mode of transportation that is sufficient, safe, secure and economical, but must be standardized to ensure that the interest of the general public is protected.
In filing the bill, Chua said motorcycle-for-hire services will help the government fill a transportation gap. He said it could efficiently transport passengers from point to point, and create job opportunities for bikers so they can earn a living wage for their families by giving them the proper tools, like safety training, and help them to become productive members of society.
The solon added that the government recognizes the importance of transportation in economic development and the recent innovations in technology has opened an opportunity for alternative modes of public conveyance, such as motorcycles-for-hire, to thrive as a reliable and accessible mode of transportation.
***
But despite its promise of convenience and fast service, it must be regulated to ensure that the interest of the general public, commuters in particular, must be protected, Chua said.
He pointed out that while private vehicles dominate road share, motorcycles are, in fact, the most widely used vehicle by Filipinos, adding that according to the Land Transportation Office (LTO), there are an estimated 18 million motorcycles plying the roads in the country.
The lawmaker explained further that the regulation of motorcycles-for-hire as an alternative transport option stands to benefit both the commuting public by addressing mobility issues and the Filipino families who now have an opportunity to unlock a new income stream and uplift their lives.
Motorcycles-for-hire, particularly motorcycle taxis, have the added benefit of providing meaningful livelihoods to the relatively unskilled sectors of the workforce. As drivers only need to drive well and safely, many who would otherwise be under or unemployed elsewhere are able to earn a sufficient living wage by offering their transportation services through Motorcycle Taxi Platform Providers, Chua said.
He also said that the current minimum wage rate in Metro Manila is approximately P500 a day; a biker has the capacity to earn up to P1,500 per day.
“The potential impact of a motorcycle-for-hire law cannot be overstated,” Chua said.
Death as the principle of life
(I would like to share
this article emailed to us by book writer Bernie V. Lopez. At age 26, Lopez hitchhiked
25,000 kilometers in Europe and North Africa for three straight years. He made
a book of his wild adventures. He learned deep insights that changed him
totally, which he wants to share with readers. The book is called “Wings and
Wanderlust – Discovering Your Inner Self”. It is also a guidebook on how to
plan your own adventure. Lopez was professor of Ateneo University, freelance
documentary producer-director (ex-ABS-CBN, ex-TVS Tokyo) – ex-Broadcaster
(Radio Veritas). You may catch him on Facebook “Bernie V. Lopez Eastwind” /
Pages “Eastwind Journeys and Journals” and “Mary Queen of Peace.”)
***
In the midst of his utter success and a rapidly growing empire, Steve Jobs developed cancer of the pancreas. His doctors told him that it was mostly incurable. Steve suddenly made a 180-degree paradigm shift from the vision of his empire to the vision of death.
Steve Jobs discovered later that his cancer was a rare curable one. The nearness of death vanished just as quickly as it emerged. But the effect on Steve was so profound that this did not change his paradigm shift. He realized that death must be the principle of life. The way we live must be dictated by the thought of death. Life is but a fleeting moment. There is no time to dilly-dally. One must do what he needs to do at once. Go for the jugular.
As guest speaker at the graduation in Reed College in Portland, Oregon, he said, “If today was the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do? You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Only then did Steve realize that, at the thought of death, he had ‘nothing to lose’, which gave him courage – wings to weather any storm; throw caution to the wind.
The nearness of death helped Steve sift through what was meaningful and absurd in life. He said, “Death is the destination we all share. No one escapes it. Death is the single best invention of life. So, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other people’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
Connecting the Dots
Steve never graduated from college. Her mother was a young graduate student who put him up for adoption. At age 17, Steve chose Reed College, a very expensive school. His adopted parents had to spend all their savings for Steve’s tuition. After 6 months however, he dropped out. He said, “It was one of the best decisions I ever made.” He dropped out of the uninteresting subjects and ‘dropped in’ only on the interesting ones.
One subject fascinated him, Calligraphy, although he did not how it would help his career in the future. It had no practical application in his life then. He realized years later that it was an important part of the software he would generate needing the study of fonts and creative typography. He said that Windows eventually copied Apple’s its typography as he designed it.
It was serendipity, stumbling ‘accidentally’ on precious things, that was an important part of Steve’s destiny. Ten years later, he realized he was ‘connecting the dots’ by accident. It all came back to him when he was designing the MacIntosh computer. He said, “If I had never dropped out, I would never have dropped in that Calligraphy class.”
Without knowing it, Steve became a pioneer of ‘selective education’, a new trend being experimented by a few pioneering universities today. Universities offer a flood of courses dumped on students, half of which are irrelevant to their lives. It took a rebel to defy the system. Focus was the key to Steve’s learning style. He said, “Believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even if it leads you off the well-worn path.”
Loving and Losing
In ten years, Apple grew from a partnership in a garage to a two billion firm with 4,000 employees. Ironically, Steve was fired from the very company he started, which shocked everyone. The Apple board which threw him out was a bunch of Harvard-Yale-Oxford-cultured bright boys who could not understand the vision of a college drop-out.
“I’ve been rejected but I was still ‘in love’ (with what he had done). And so I decided to start over. I didn’t see it then, but getting fired by Apple was the best thing that ever happened to me.” It was serendipity all over again.
In the next 5 years, Steve founded Pixar, a pioneer firm in computer animation that quickly soared to the stratosphere. At that time, Apple went ironically bankrupt in the hands of the bright boys. They took Steve in again, who resurrected Apple back into stardom by launching Ipod, one of the most powerful communication innovation of the century.
Steve said, “Sometimes, life is going to hit you with a brick on the face. Don’t lose faith. The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Indeed, loving saved Steve from losing.
‘Love Marketing’
Steve Jobs, the rebel entrepreneur dropout who defied ivy league education, invented a new radical approach to marketing. The traditional business tenet was profit, the ‘god of business.’ Steve fought against that tenet, saying the customer is the ultimate ‘god of business’, prior to even profit. He simply said love your customer and everything falls into place. Go for the heart and the pocket will follow.
The lesson is spiritual more than entrepreneurial – the primacy of love over profit in a landscape of a vicious amoral Machiavellian jungle of corporations.
***
In the midst of his utter success and a rapidly growing empire, Steve Jobs developed cancer of the pancreas. His doctors told him that it was mostly incurable. Steve suddenly made a 180-degree paradigm shift from the vision of his empire to the vision of death.
Steve Jobs discovered later that his cancer was a rare curable one. The nearness of death vanished just as quickly as it emerged. But the effect on Steve was so profound that this did not change his paradigm shift. He realized that death must be the principle of life. The way we live must be dictated by the thought of death. Life is but a fleeting moment. There is no time to dilly-dally. One must do what he needs to do at once. Go for the jugular.
As guest speaker at the graduation in Reed College in Portland, Oregon, he said, “If today was the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do? You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Only then did Steve realize that, at the thought of death, he had ‘nothing to lose’, which gave him courage – wings to weather any storm; throw caution to the wind.
The nearness of death helped Steve sift through what was meaningful and absurd in life. He said, “Death is the destination we all share. No one escapes it. Death is the single best invention of life. So, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other people’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
Connecting the Dots
Steve never graduated from college. Her mother was a young graduate student who put him up for adoption. At age 17, Steve chose Reed College, a very expensive school. His adopted parents had to spend all their savings for Steve’s tuition. After 6 months however, he dropped out. He said, “It was one of the best decisions I ever made.” He dropped out of the uninteresting subjects and ‘dropped in’ only on the interesting ones.
One subject fascinated him, Calligraphy, although he did not how it would help his career in the future. It had no practical application in his life then. He realized years later that it was an important part of the software he would generate needing the study of fonts and creative typography. He said that Windows eventually copied Apple’s its typography as he designed it.
It was serendipity, stumbling ‘accidentally’ on precious things, that was an important part of Steve’s destiny. Ten years later, he realized he was ‘connecting the dots’ by accident. It all came back to him when he was designing the MacIntosh computer. He said, “If I had never dropped out, I would never have dropped in that Calligraphy class.”
Without knowing it, Steve became a pioneer of ‘selective education’, a new trend being experimented by a few pioneering universities today. Universities offer a flood of courses dumped on students, half of which are irrelevant to their lives. It took a rebel to defy the system. Focus was the key to Steve’s learning style. He said, “Believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even if it leads you off the well-worn path.”
Loving and Losing
In ten years, Apple grew from a partnership in a garage to a two billion firm with 4,000 employees. Ironically, Steve was fired from the very company he started, which shocked everyone. The Apple board which threw him out was a bunch of Harvard-Yale-Oxford-cultured bright boys who could not understand the vision of a college drop-out.
“I’ve been rejected but I was still ‘in love’ (with what he had done). And so I decided to start over. I didn’t see it then, but getting fired by Apple was the best thing that ever happened to me.” It was serendipity all over again.
In the next 5 years, Steve founded Pixar, a pioneer firm in computer animation that quickly soared to the stratosphere. At that time, Apple went ironically bankrupt in the hands of the bright boys. They took Steve in again, who resurrected Apple back into stardom by launching Ipod, one of the most powerful communication innovation of the century.
Steve said, “Sometimes, life is going to hit you with a brick on the face. Don’t lose faith. The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Indeed, loving saved Steve from losing.
‘Love Marketing’
Steve Jobs, the rebel entrepreneur dropout who defied ivy league education, invented a new radical approach to marketing. The traditional business tenet was profit, the ‘god of business.’ Steve fought against that tenet, saying the customer is the ultimate ‘god of business’, prior to even profit. He simply said love your customer and everything falls into place. Go for the heart and the pocket will follow.
The lesson is spiritual more than entrepreneurial – the primacy of love over profit in a landscape of a vicious amoral Machiavellian jungle of corporations.
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