Finally, road rule enforcement

Last weekend, we talked about how the NLEX development seems to have ushered accelerated economic growth in Central Luzon. Well, the new expressway managers now have this little experiment going on at the North Luzon Expressway, and it has something to do with restoring order in our roads and highways. Since May, the Manila North Tollway Corp. (MNTC), operator of the newly rehabilitated and modernized NLE, has been strictly enforcing the rules and regulations of the road. Basic rules like keeping the innermost (left) lane open and using that lane only for overtaking, maintaining the speed limit, and other things the ordinary Filipino motorist had otherwise forgotten.

It’s really a small deal when you think about it. But MNTC believes, and rightly so, that rules are there for a reason. Most of the chaos in our roads today is caused by indifference, ignorance or plain arrogance. The chaos results in road rage which, in turn, results in all kinds of problems.

Anybody who plies the South Luzon Expressway, for instance, will tell you that chaos reigns there. You have slow-moving vehicles on the inner lane and overtaking on the shoulders. The belief that you get to where you’re going faster if you break the rules is actually a dangerous thought because you endanger yourself and others on the road. Improving the travel time and travel predictability really rests on the strict enforcement of road rules and regulations.

It is being proven now at the NLE. Travel time is very predictable, even within the speed limitations imposed by those MNTC patrols. Safety has improved considerably and traffic has diminished substantially. Now might be a good idea for agencies like the LTO and MMDA (not to mention those Metro Manila LGUs, all of whom maintain their own traffic control units) to take a long hard look at how it’s done at the NLE. They might learn a thing or two — and improve the lives of Metro Manila’s motorists in the process.

Correcting A Huge Mistake

When I first learned several months back that the tariff commission classified pre-mixed imported powdered juice drinks as subject to a mere three percent import duty, I was furious.

Why shouldn’t I be? After all, I’m among the millions of Filipinos who have to suffer from increased taxes just because some bureaucrat inside the commission does not know apples from oranges, or simply refuses to distinguish one from the other.

Everybody should be furious when something like this happens. When government falls short of targeted collections because of the failure of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs to go after the so-called big fish tax evaders, smugglers, etc., who suffers? Us. The expanded value-added tax (EVAT) law for instance was meant to increase tax collections at the expense of consumers who will have to bear the additional tax. By simply improving collection efficiency, there is no need to impose new taxes. But of course, it is easier said than done when there are other interests involved.

It’s good that some people at the BOC valuation and classification appeals board are thinking straight. After all, imposing the correct 48-percent duty on imported pre-mixed juices which contain as much as 90-percent sugar is a win-win situation, not only for government which generates higher revenues in the process, but also for the local sugar industry and local juice manufacturers who are utilizing domestic sugar.

How US company Kraft International got the Tariff Commission and the BOC to initially rule in its favor and impose a lower tariff of three percent on its imports escapes me. After all, Executive Order no. 295 is very clear that if pre-mixed juices contain more than 65-percent sugar, then the tariff should be 48 percent. Even US customs authorities classify such powdered concentrates as sugar. There is therefore no basis at all for the initial classification of Tang and Kool Aid importations.

According to the BOC appeals board, Tang and Kool Aid are in fact powdered sugar containing more than 90-percent sugar with flavoring and coloring agents added. I don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that powdered juice drinks are simply flavored sugar.

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