Telco’s Free Aircraft Services to Senators at Our Expense

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN City – A pilot said that senators of the Philippines are free to use the helicopters owned by one of the two major telecommunication corporations in the Philippines.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone under Manny Pangilinan and Globe Telecommunication run by Ayala Corporation are duopoly in the Philippines.

The Pilot, who asked anonymity, said that whenever senators wanted to stump in the provinces and cities outside Metro Manila the choppers and the pilots are there to ferry them for free.

This information ensued when a pilot brought to this city a senator from the Liberal Party who visited a government office.

Some media men had even pictures of the solon and the tail number of the chopper.

Another senator who ran for a public office in the last election had been using helicopters from the mammoth telecommunication corporation dubbed as telco by Filipinos.

A political kibitzer here said that these practices of the telecommunication corporations in lending air assets like airplane or jet to fly these members of the Upper House mocked by Speaker Panty Alvarez as Mabagal na Kapulungan (Slow House of Senate) as far as to Mindanao only showed how the lobby group had sway with the senators to protect the interest of the corporation versus giving franchise to another rival.

An example of this influence was the yet to be amended Public Service Acts or Commonwealth Act No. 146 where its features on business equity are onerous to foreign investors.

PSA covers all types of common carriers, be it by land, air or water, water supplies and systems, petroleum, electricity, communications systems and even broadcasting stations.

It is where utilities have been mandated by law to be averagely 60 percent owned by Filipino or Filipinos despite the thick pockets of the foreign partners who contented themselves to settle for the 40 % of the voting stocks.

Because of this seemingly xenophobic equity, foreign investors go instead to Mainland China, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and other South East Asian countries.

The failure of the Houses of Representatives and Senate to pass a bill 20 years ago to liberalize these industries resulted to the lethargic employment growth in the country.

The indifference of the members of Congress on this old law was suspected to be influenced by the lobby monies of big businesses primordially owned by the local oligarchs whose clout run deep in the recently mentioned industries that made them even the globally richest individuals as published by Forbes Magazine on its 500 Richest People in the World.

Their control of these industries cost a gaping trade imbalance of US $4.72 billion in the Philippines last year.

Based on December 2017 data, the country has US$ 4.72 billion export versus the US$ 8.74 billion import according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

This growing trade imbalance helped weakened the exchange rate and spikes the prices of goods and services at the expense of poor Filipinos.

Lack of gainful jobs in the country resulted to the English proficient Filipinos to work abroad.

Lately however, President Rodrigo Duterte banned the working visa of Filipinos in Kuwait after the country was found to be incompetent in stopping the countless abuses, rapes, and murders of Filipino maids there.

The duopoly of PLDT and Globe have long been accused by netizens and interest groups of having the worst services like the slowest internet speed in the world, stolen paid call and short messaging system (SMS) or text loads, and the bill on the SMS that are free in other countries that host countless of mobile phone companies there.

The plurality of competitors of a certain industry in these countries are reasons why the people there enjoy a cheaper but better services while more number of people are employed .

“They are being (Telco) accused of giving lobby monies to national candidates like presidential bets so their duopoly that burdened the Filipinos can be protected,” the political observer, who asked not to be named, said.

President Duterte in exasperation had declared to the public that he would allow another telco player to compete with the present duopoly in the country.

READ: Blame Congress for the deaths, abuses of OFWs

You can read my selected columns at mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)