Hassle of Riding a Taxi in Manila

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Before my niece, my daughter, my wife, and I motored to the more than four hours trip to Manila from Dagupan City, I told the Missus if we four just rode a commercial air-conditioned bus where each of us just pay P500 or P2,000 for all of us.

 That would be 2,500 inclusive of the P500 taxi or Grab ride from the Cubao’s terminal of either the Victory Liner, Solid North, or Five Star Bus bound to the abode of my in-laws in the plush Valle Verde in Pasig where we have to spend the night for our last Friday’s morning flight to that iconic white beach paradise in Aklan province called Boracay.

SCARCE. Supply and demand for taxis in Metro Manila have dropped by almost half since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic as passengers have become fewer and fuel costs atrociously high, an organization of taxi operators said Friday, June 24. Photo credit: Onenews.ph

We would be spending P6,000 in case we commute with the same transportation and hailed from the same places when we go back to Dagupan City this morning.

I changed my mind however last Thursday afternoon. I told the spouse we would just gas up worth P5,000 of diesel we bought at P83 per liter somewhere in Calasiao town.

“I’ll be dropping by as a side trip at a government's office in Tarlac for an interview with its executive there,” I told her as I cancelled the other one in Urdaneta City.

When the Missus arrived in our room at Valle Verde yesterday (Sunday) night, she told me the long pathetic queues of Metro Manila residents she and her sister passed by in their vehicle after they had bought their groceries.

Many Taxi drivers there did not ply their vehicles because of the skyrocketing prices of fuels that spike every Tuesday.

“Mabuti na lang nag car tayo papunta dito,” thankful she told me about not being part of those hapless folks who had to wiggle out for a ride because of that transportation’s conundrum that happened too in the airport.

AUTHOR (2nd from left) and family at a hotel in Boracay's Paradise Island.

While exiting to the service road of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Express Way (TPLEX) where I would cruise the 30 minutes trip’s Paniqui, Tarlac to Bayambang, Pangasinan for a short cut to drop my niece at her house in Barangay Macabito, Calasiao, Pangasinan, I asked the Missus to compute how much we paid for our slick rides – aw shucks, up to 120 kilometers per hour my daughter yelled - in the toll gates of Norther Luzon Express Way (NLEX) and TPLEX vice versa where she added the P5,000 full tank of diesel.

“We paid P1,100 for the toll gates or a total spending of P6,100,” she retorted.

“Damn, a difference of P100 if we commute and being insulated on that hell hole's taxi cabs scarcity whose drivers saw no longer profitable to feed their family.

AUTHOR posing for posterity at the Crystal Cave in Boracay Island.

This what I posted at Facebook after we arrived at 7 Am this morning (Monday) in the Bangus City. My Op-Ed on tourism triggered Northern Watch Newspaper’s columnist Toots Orfinada - who is the tourism and public relation pundit of the Kingdom of Princess Urduja - to post his observation about the tourism industry of Alaminos City – the home of the Hundred Islands:

F-to R: Missus Miles, daughter Alex, and myself.

VIDEO: Fast boat from Boracay to Caticlan where an aircon van waits for us. From the hotel we rode two vans and an airport aircon bus - one of the three busses - for the 170 seaters Airbus jet that waits for us at the airport. There were three commercial jets parked at the tarmac of Caticlan Airport when we arrived there. A source told me there after Boracay was opened in 2021 to present there were 24 commercial jets that land every day. "Before the pandemic around 4O jets many from various parts of the country that arrived in Caticlan - a 15 minutes’ ferry ride to the world's renowned white beach island," he disclosed. Long haul jets from other countries like South Korea - the No.1 foreign money churning visitors -land in the 2,500 meters’ runway of the nearby Kalibo International Airport.

Before the pandemic there were 6,000 foreign and local tourists that come there EVERY DAY, Bert, who was the driver of another, van told me in Ilonggo as this writer speaks to the locals there in that vernacular.

A lady worker at the Malay town's local government unit, who sees the town's entry ticket, told me presently there are 2,000 guests that enter the Paradise Island where high end hotels like the P25,000 a day"s room Shangrila cordially wait for them.

Sanamagan! 2,000 guests multiplied by 3 days stay there means 6,000 individuals. How do they affect the local employment there if each of these tourists spend P8,000 in three days in their hotel fee, foods, and the amenities there like Islands' hopping?

Godzack and Godzilla! That's P48 million in three days! And I am not yet talking here about the P7000 round trip airline ticket for each of the passengers for the 30 minutes ride from Imperial Manila to this island in Aklan Province.

Our government should improve in other parts of the country our tourism sites as they are the goose that lay the golden eggs like in Thailand and Indonesia.

 READ MY OTHER BLOG:

Shield Law Does not Protect Radio Announcers on Libel

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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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.