Well, it now looks like all previous efforts of concerned government agencies to make taxi drivers comply with their responsibilities as public transport conveyor failed.
We are saying this because another multi-agency program is again launched some five days ago to once more remind taxi drivers to adhere to their responsibilities. And what are these? These are to have drivers use their taxi meter every time they convey passenger; that they should not resort to contracting or “pakyaw” system; that they have themselves wear uniform and groomed properly; load and unload passengers in designated areas, among others.
This time the agencies namely the City Transport and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO), the Civil Aviation Administration of the Philippines (CAAP), and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) have launched what they call “sticker campaign.”
The stickers to be placed on the taxi’s dashboard and on the back of the front seats, shall contain information like the name of the taxi unit, the driver’s name, hotline and other contact numbers like e-mails, Facebook address the unit’s plate number, and the numbers that should be contacted for purposes of reporting passenger’s complaint.
What is important to note however, is that for now the representatives of the agencies involved in the “sticker campaign” are still to finalize the determination of corresponding penalties, including the amount of fines. Yet, according to our idol community relations man now head of the CTTMO Ret. Colonel Dionisio Abude, the composite agencies will start monitoring compliance by taxi drivers before December this year.
If our memory serves us right there were already programs earlier implemented years back to address the problem of erring taxi drivers. Therefore, we cannot help but assume that all the previous interventions could have failed miserably.
Why, what happen idol, did the supposed implementers not give the previous programs their appropriate cooperation? Were those programs denied the support by the local government? We are asking because it is apparent that with the “sticker campaign” the problem of non-compliance by taxi drivers of giving the brand of service attendant to their hiring as public utility vehicle conveyors still remains prevalent in the city.
It is our take that when the composite agencies start its monitoring activities of drivers’ compliance it should not be the usual “ningas cogon” scheme.
Also, in the development of guidelines and penalties we recommend that the taxi operators be represented and that there has to be corresponding sanctions to the operators should any of their drivers continue violating the campaign.
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We strongly agree with the decision of the Department of Tourism (DOT) in Region XI to add to its “come-ons” the so-called “farm tourism” as means to boost tourism in the region as well as enhancing the quality of farming now undertaken by the increasing farm stakeholders.
We believe however, that the DOT should not limit “farm tourism” to corporate farms. It should also look into the small yet highly productive farms that are contributing to the improvement of the agricultural produce in the region.
If indeed the DOT is serious in this endeavor it should send out people from its fold to monitor farms that the agency may think worthy of the visits of tourists, may they be local or international.
It should also come up with some programs that can help small farm owners improve their means to host tourists other than touring them around their farm and present their plants. Perhaps some kind of an accreditation process and provision of incentives – monetary or otherwise – to encourage farm owners to offer their farms as “tourist destinations” should be adopted by the DOT.
In fact these days, other than the known Malagos Garden that is more of a resort than a farm, we know of one that is actually a real farm in all that can be described of it.
We are referring to the farm owned by lawyer-businessman-farmer Tony Partoza at Biao Escuela in Tugbok district. It has a restaurant serving urban amenities but surrounded by the best of farm views with scents of durian and other fruits during its picking season.
About two and a half kilometers away there is also a 12-hectare farm fully planted into coconut, magosteen, cacao, bananas, lanzones with a big native chicken poultry. The area is site of a small creek that literally divides the farm in two.
It is owned and personally developed and attended to by its owner, a retired ocean-going vessel captain.
Other than the fruit trees planted on the farm there are no other amenities that may entice the tourists. But if some DOT people could visit the area and recommend what needs to be done to make the farm a tourist attraction, maybe the agency could have one more potential “come-on.”
