The cab driver had a lot to complain about. It's not just about the continuous rise in the prices of oil, he tells me. It's also about how the Pinoys in government deceive you into thinking they're doing something to address it and make life easier for the simple folk, then end up formulating laws which take more money away from you in the end.
Take this simple example, the cab driver says to me. First the government assures the cab drivers that a new law has been passed ordering a rise in taxi fares. It actually sounds pretty okay at first glance. However, the government also requires that individual taxi cabs pay a certain additional tax ( read: fee ) so that the cabdrivers would have the legal right to be able to charge these higher fares. It didn't matter that cabdrivers would have to pay this tax only once--just count the millions of cabdrivers who have to do so in order to start charging higher fares, and you can sum up the government's take in the hundreds of millions. In other words, before the cab drivers start earning more, they would have to pay a bit more, too.
The moment I hear this, I am reminded of common street thugs who approach you and say they won't harm you unless you hand over some, just this once. Talk about bullying and extortion.
Except this time, it's those big shots in high places who are talking. Pinoy politicians always have solutions to hunger and desperation in our country, but you have to fork over more money before you can avail of them. Yep, every piece of effective legislation always requires an additional burden on the pocket. The already stiff taxes you pay aren't really enough.
Now take a look at this, the cabdriver tells me. He points to a sort of rectangular plastic ornament hanging down his windshield. It's a card that says "On-Duty" on one side and "Off-Duty" on the other. Those government officials came up with a new law instituting the obligatory placement of these cards on all taxi cabs, he tells me. It is meant to show whether a cab driver is willing to take passengers ( On-Duty ) or is on break ( Off-Duty ). It is by all intents and purposes supposed to be against the law for cabdrivers to take this ornament off its place on their windshields, or to be without it in the first place, for that matter.
Of course it goes without saying that cabdrivers have to buy these godforsaken cards first. Which means that the government earns a bit more yet again. If cabdrivers make do without buying the cards in order to be able to save at least a bit of precious money for their own, then the government is only to eager to arrest them--and fine them. Again, more money for the government.
It kind of reminds you of the way with which the Italian mafia used to extort money from storeowners--pay up or we'll take you down.
It just goes to show that the present government is all to willing to dangle all sorts of promises...for a price. Will the time come when, God forbid, we'll be turning into another Myanmar, where people were struck down with calamity and food aid would be made available to the desperate victims only after some bribes were exchanged? Truth to tell, we Pinoys may well be on the same situation even now.
Oh the horror of it all.
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