What the readers say

The following letters from readers were selected to show the wide spectrum of issues and concerns in the minds of the public. I have taken the liberty, in the interest of space limitation, to quote only certain portions of subject letters to highlight the issues and the respective writer’s relevant views and comments.

Lower marine safety standards in RP

A reader who requested not to be identified reacted to my previous columns where I discussed the dire situation of the local maritime industry and highlighted the dangers of the continued sailing in Philippine waters of old tankers and ferries.

Mr. X, as we shall call as of now, writes:

"Industrialized nations like Japan, Korea and countries in Europe generally do not accept tankers over 15 years old. Even China where international standards are often overlooked has become strict. Recently, they have banned vessels over 30 years old; and vessels over 20 years old are subjected to special severe inspection by the Chinese Department of Transportation.

"Major oil companies operating in other countries conduct their own inspections to determine suitability of vessels and they do not normally approve the use and chartering of vessels over 15 years old. Why is it that the major oil companies operating in the Philippines seem to have another standard? Do they consider Philippines as second class? They must be consistent if they want to be seen as socially responsible companies."

Based on official records, the following are the old tankers (over 20 years old) still plying Philippine waters:

Vessel Name Year Built Age Charterer B/OTC 911 1968 34 Coastal Subic Sunshine II 1971 31 Petron Felipe Agoncillo 1973 29 Petron Sto. Nino de Bay 1974 28 Petron Billy Hope 1975 27 Petron J. Gabriela Silang 1976 26 Petron Core Jade 1977 25 Petron Billy 4 1977 25 Petron Core Ruby 1978 24 Petron Core Diamond 1978 24 Petron Calaguas 1978 24 Shell MIS 1 1979 23 Caltex Marangal 1979 23 Caltex

What’s wrong with us, and a solution to our problems

Rico Xeres of Greenhills, San Juan, M.M. laments on the deterioration of the economic status of the Filipinos and the Philippine economy. After describing what he believes are the reasons for this situation, the writer proposes a solution, Rico writes:

"Filipinos are talented, skilled, creative and highly educated people. When transported to a different milieu, not only do they excel, they perform spectacularly. In the US, Filipino households have the second highest income and the lowest incidence of poverty among all ethnic groups.

"How can a people so skilled and talented be left behind by other Asian countries? The main answer is our government; while other Asian governments were able to uplift their people, our government stifled the skills and talents of our people and brought us to ruin. Our corrupt politicians who are completely ignorant of even the most basic economic principles pursued medieval economic policies in the past and still continue to pursue these wrong economic policies up to the present.

"Filipinos believe that corruption is the main cause for our lack of progress (and we do lose perhaps 40 percent of our taxes to corruption), but other nations just as corrupt or even more corrupt... have been able to achieve tremendous economic progress.

"Aside from corruption, the main stumbling block to our economic progress is the huge and bloated government bureaucracy where as much as 40 percent of our budget is uselessly spent. The personnel of the various departments of our government are as many as 10 times more that of other Asian countries. We have 40,000 people in our DPWH, whereas South Korea and Taiwan have less than 5,000 in their equivalent bureaucracy. Their budget for this same department is 20 times more than that of our DPWH. Our tourism department has 5,000 employees but only $700,000 for promotion and advertising. The Tourism Board of Hong Kong... has oly 500 employees but has $70 million to promote H.K. abroad... Our Congress has three times more employees than when it opened in 1987, though the number of Senators and Congressmen have more or less remained constant.

"We uselessly spend most of our money on our huge government bureaucracy that we have little money for infrastructure, education and for our peace and order program....

"The only solution to our problems is to privatize. The BIR, Customs, Tourism, Philippine National Railways, Education and other departments of government should be privatized. We (should) effectively trim our huge bureaucracy and at the same time reduce graft and corruption... We should also trim the number of political offices in the country... by reducing the number of provinces."

Win-win for local vehicle assemblers and rural transport

Here is an e-mail from webmasterD@chattervox on the issue of importation of second-hand vehicles and taxes on transport vehicles:

"You were right in synthesizing the situation of your local transport industry and the myopic view of government policies in relation to that.

"There’s one suggestion of mine (with) regards a viable local vehicle manufacturing (assembly?) industry, and at the same time, a competitive second-hand vehicle importing sector that can boost the competitiveness of the rural transport.

"Why not cajole your congress to amend... local vehicle manufacturing laws that explicitly restrict importation of CBUs (completely built units) that are four to six years old and only right-hand drive by second-hand car importers, and taxation of landed second-hand vehicles of any conversion to their drive assembly accordingly.

"At the same time, confine the CBU and CKD operations to the exclusivity of existing local car manufacturers... (and) eliminate the gray area (in) SKD operations where local vehicle assemblers are known to (carry out) tax (evasion).

"Eliminating a manufacturing operation that is a potential for tax evasion such as (in the) SKD (sector) while giving exclusivity (for specific types of activity to) manufacturers and importers might help avoid a free-for-all (situation), and at the same time, help the rural transport industry."

Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 4th Floor, 156 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at [email protected]. If you wish to view the previous columns, you may also visit my website at http://bizlinks.linkedge.biz.