By Mortz C. Ortigoza
It took the Cebu Pacific's airline more than one hour to take
off from the runway at the Ninoy International Airport in Manila when I was
bound recently to Davao City – my first plane ride since I was locked down in
Cotabato after the pandemic rear its ugly heads in March 16, 2020.
My thoughts about the delay of the single aisle's 132 seaters A-320 jet liner I rode:
A lot of airlines were taking off or landing as one of a two engines Cessna turbo prop probably was on the side of my plane waiting to take off, too, and; More minutes and hours spent waiting to land or take off in the old single runway of Imperial Manila means the economy is wiggling from the bludgeon caused by Corona Virus Disease-19.
 |
| INFLATION occurs when the prices of goods and services increase. There are four main types of inflation, categorized by their speed. They are "creeping," "walking," "galloping," and "hyperinflation." There are specific types of asset inflation and also wage inflation. Some experts argue that demand-pull (also known as "price inflation") and cost-push inflation are two more types, but they are causes of inflation. So is the expansion of the money supply. (Photo and text credit: Thebalance.com) |
When I returned from Davao City to Manila last Thursday,
Cebu Pacific sent its bigger hauling two aisles’ 460 passengers Airbus 330 to
ferry the burgeoning number of the passengers in the queue
to board the two engines huge aircraft.
Mind you, flying to and from the Duterte City was just like
pre-pandemic time where the requirements was a passenger like me just pay the cheap fare
(especially you booked more than a week of your flight for an average of P5,000
round trips fare), bring your I.D, and wear a face mask and you can be airborne to your destination.
Davao City did not require a passenger to have COVID-19 test
and vaccination card. Damn, we are back in the normal days as the pandemic tanks
down.
***
But taxi driver George Quita, who ferried me from Paranaque
to the airport, was melancholic.
He said his net income in the whole day’s plying the Metropolitan Manila that composed countless cities and towns gives him a measly
P300.
“Sir, walang pahinga
buong araw e umpisa alas kuwatro hanggang alas otso mag-gross kami diyan ng
P2,500 to P2,800,” he deplored.
He broke down his earnings with the following expenses and his income:
P300 for the food he consumed in the whole day of plying; P800 for
the boundary fee he paid to the operator of the taxi; P1,200 unleaded gasoline
for the 160 to 180 kilometers he cruises a day; and the P300 net income he will
use for his family’s expenses.
“Sobra, napunta lang
sa gas ang kita namin,” Mr. Quita, whose surname is “income’ in English,
lamented about the pittance he earns nowadays.
He said if there is an opening of schools he and his fellow
drivers will apply as workers to families who send their children to the academe. Unlike the more or less P9,000 he earns a month in his taxi work, a family driver
can earn P15,000 a month in the metropolis.
"The problem the Philippines she is the only country in the world that has not resumed the traditionally face -to- face mode of classes after all schools globally have already opened," I told him in Tagalog about his pipe dream of becoming a family driver.
I explained to him - just like my economics college days teaching stint, te-he! - that P300 a day is pathetic since the minimum wage in Metro Manila is P537 daily while it is P340 to P370 a day if he lives in provinces like Pangasinan and Pampanga.
***
Tricycle drivers in Dagupan City told me in November 25,
2020 that each of them can chalked up a
paltry of P150 average every day in steering for passengers in their
three-wheel vehicles.
“Totoo iyan sir. Sa akin P300 gross kita ko. P120
boundary ko sa amo ko pero sa gasolina P100 na may naiwan ako na P80 para sa
pamilya ko,” driver Rommel
Lazona,45, told this writer.
His fellow drivers deplored that they could even earn as
small as P50 a day.
I could not imagine
how the measly fifty or eighty pesos could buy a meal three times a day to feed
a downtrodden nuclear family of five.
They said some if not many of their fellow tricycle drivers
used to have – pre-COVID time - a net earnings (after they deducted their P120-
P150 boundary fee to the owner and P100 gas expenses) of P400 to P300 a day.
This fare bonanza ensued when students from Lyceum
Northwestern University, Mother Goose (Special Science School), La Sallete,
Dominican, La Maria, Edna School, and City National High School teemed by
thousands in the streets where they had all the day's servicing them during
those school days.
But all of them disappeared in thin air after the government
mandated since March 20, 2020 that schools do online and modular learning for
their students to avoid being struck by the lethal pandemic.
This economics conundrum could worsen if the price of
gasoline shoots up to the skies worsened by the limited supply of the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the cut-off of the 1,200 kilometer’s
Nord Stream pipeline from Russia to Germany and Europe after Vladimir Putin ordered
the invasion of Ukraine more than a week ago.
***
My narrations of the plight of the taxi and tricycle drivers did not stop National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Chief Karl Chua to paint an economic rosy picture of the country as the pandemic nose dives.
He said a total of P16.5 billion a week is expected when the whole country eases back to Alert Level 1.
According to the Department of Health, Alert Level -1 is
where intrazonal and interzonal travel shall be allowed without regard to age
and comorbidities; and all establishments, persons, or activities, are allowed
to operate, work, or be undertaken at full on-site or venue/seating capacity
provided it is consistent with minimum public health standards; provided
further, that face to face classes for basic education shall be subject to
prior approval of the Office of the President.
After Metro Metro Manila- where almost 14 million of the
population of the country reside – and other areas reverted to Alert Level 1,
NEDA expected P3 billion in salaries and income weekly would be expected to be
gained there.
The Philippines lost about P1.3 trillion in salaries or
income due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read my other blog:
The Lethal, Costly Weapons of a Cobra
MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.
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