"Let government be a tough negotiator, but it must go to the table, rather than threaten mayhem by reverting to the past."
I do not recall when the government chop-chopped the Public Services Commission into several agencies. But back in the late 50s and into the mid-60s, almost all public services as we know them, engaged as they are in basic utilities, were regulated by this single powerful agency under the Department of Justice.
I recall seeing demonstrations by the PSC in its Taft Avenue office each time the price of gasoline was increased. Those were the good old days when a liter of gasoline would retail at 25 or 30 centavos. Of course, the peso was around 4 to a dollar then, and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was yet non-existent, and the oil cartel was basically American and British-Dutch controlled.
So were telephone services and transport fares, whether by land, air or water. NAWASA ran the distribution of water, which was rather limited in areas serviced. But we’ve been residents of Manila ever since, which was serviced by the government-owned water service provider, except that we had to install a Goulds pump and pressure tank to ensure that our second-floor restrooms had a strong shower.
Nowadays, power rates are semi-regulated by the Energy Regulatory Commission, and the business has been chopped into generation, transmission, and distribution, with various private players, although Meralco, then and until now, has the biggest area to service. Due to diversity in operations and serviced areas, though, the Aboitizes of Cebu are the biggest players in electric power.
Water in Metro Manila is distributed by two private companies, Maynilad for the western parts, and Manila Water for the eastern section.
The PLDT, first owned by the Americans, then sold after the expiration of parity rights with American companies to Ramon Cojuangco and his partners, held a monopoly until FVR opened the gates of deregulation. Now we still have PLDT controlled by an Indonesian group called Salim (the late Pres. Suharto’s crony firm) with its CEO, Manuel V. Pangilinan, which also owns Smart; and Globe Telecoms, controlled by the Ayalas, with investments from Singapore Telecommunications. A third player, Dito Telecommunity, won the bid to roll out the third telco, and with increased competition, hopefully, provide better services.
When I was a grade-schooler, we did not have NLEX or SLEX, and the trip to Baguio through MacArthur Highway took some eight to nine hours via Pantranco or Philippine Rabbit. To our hometown, San Pablo in Laguna, it was a three-hour trip via BLTB or even the PNR train.
Philippine Airlines was the only air carrier, and in Cebu, the airport was in Lahug within the city, now converted into an IT park with four and five-star hotels. In the early sixties, a carrier called FAST, owned by the Iloilo Carams, provided some competition, and later, Manila Air of the Silverio family.
Travelling by boat to the Visayas or Mindanao was slow but pleasurable if you took “first-class,” but only if it was an Escano or Maritima vessel, where crisply-uniformed waiters served good food. Cheaper Chinoy-owned vessels provided bad accommodations along with bad food, whatever class you took.
With more airline choices introduced with “promo” rates which challenged PAL, the competition first brought good results. But the resulting shift from sea transport to air, even by the middle class, created such huge demand that the carriers forgot they compete with each other. Monopoly simply turned into bad oligopolies.
PAL used to be chided as “plane always late.” Try the major competition, Cebu Pacific, which is almost always late as well. The consolation is that international travel by PAL has improved considerably, most always on schedule, and with much-improved service. I have written about two very bad experiences with Cebu Pacific, the first in 2015, when I was supposed to attend an important meeting in Davao with then-Mayor Duterte; the second just last Monday about a botched trip to Mactan. I remember taking an international trip in a Cebu Pacific plane to Singapore way back when GMA was yet president. It was with the family, and everyone complained about the leg room, so very cramped. I do not know what leg room they provide for international flights now.
Nowadays, almost every public service sucks.
Traffic is tied up in knots every single day, with a little respite on Sundays when every worker is flat dead tired to even leave his abode. The mass transport system is inadequate, and bogs down quite frequently. Buses are still operated through the “boundary” system, and the LTFRB and MMDA seem helpless to do anything about “kolorums.” Ditto for the jeepneys, which should have been phased out decades ago and replaced by a more efficient privately-run public transport system. Instead, we allowed UV Express vans to proliferate, adding to the congestion in our narrow thoroughfares. Not to mention a multiplicity of privately-owned vehicles that we cannot ever seem to regulate. In short, NCR’s carrying capacity is over-extended to beyond maximum. So is Metro Cebu’s, and soon, other mega-cities.
Our Internet service? Oh God! Even the TV cable operated by oligopolies as well often bog down or give subscribers headaches watching terribly pixelized images in their monitors.
The cellphones which almost every urban-dwelling Filipino has and is an aspirational device even for our farmers? How often do our conversations get cut because of dead spots? The oligopolies controlling the service promises us better efficiency each year, but have we noticed improvements?
And do they ever rebate us for dead time or interrupted service? Nada, nada, nada.
And if I add our water woes, I would just stress readers all the more.
Suffice it to say that for government to take over the water service providers is like jumping into the deep blue sea. It would be better to deal with the “devils.”
Whatever their faults, they are much better at providing services than government can ever do. Those who still remember the bad old days when Nawasa was providing the public dis-service will agree.
Let government be a tough negotiator, but it must go to the table, rather than threaten mayhem by reverting to the past.