Copycats?

(Part 11 of the “In Defense of the Filipino” series)

WHEN one resident opens a sari-sari (variety) store and then days later a neighbor also puts up a similar enterprise, anti-Filipinos claim that Filipinos are copycats—gaya-gaya, puto-maya—and that they are good only when they imitate their neighbors. These are another wrong charges against Filipinos.

In the past, the Philippines had decades-old monopolies in a number of industries, like telecommunications and airline. Filipinos suffered from those monopolies. They would wait for up to ten years before they could have telephone lines, and ten more years of waiting for dial tones, because the telephone sector was controlled by only one firm, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Company. Since there were no imitators, PLDT was dry in meeting the public’s wants and satisfaction.

The Philippine Airlines (PAL) Inc. was then the only airline company in the country; thus, were its Planes Always Late, If not cancelled, aside from having high fares.

Ten years of waiting for a telephone line and ten years more for a dial tone, or late planes, cancelled flights, and expensive air tickets—they were cruelties, weren’t they?

In 1994, President Fidel Ramos continued the dismantling of those monopolies in his efforts to push the economic reform programs that began during the term of his predecessor, President Corazon Aquino (1986-1992).

One of those deregulated sectors was the telecommunications industry. It resulted in the surfacing of new telephone entities. The worthy effect was that PLDT, fearing that its current and potential subscribers would shift to others, was forced to improve its services and to launch massive advertisements. And with the invention of mobile phones, it is now very easy to have communication with anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Today, telephone firms give both telephone lines and dial tones right after they are asked. If PLDT can do that now in just a few days, why could it not do such in the past? The answer is very simple: There were no competitors then.

As telephone companies compete and try to outdo each other through better services and effective campaigns, the customers finally have various options, after decades of being punished. They have now the luxury to choose the one that will immediately give them what they want.

New firms have also entered the airline industry since it was deregulated. Passengers also have more options now for airfares and flight schedules.

What if both PAL and PLDT still control the country today, and then stage a nationwide strike at the same time? One can easily surmise the colossal devastations that will be inflicted on the country’s transportation and telecommunications systems. Almost everything will be shut down—from the transporting of people, goods, and services to the transactions, trade, industries, investments, Internet, tourism—the entire nation. But if we have other airline and telephone companies, the damage will not reach injurious proportions.

Other articles by Jon E. Royeca

• Why Is the Philippines A Poor Country? - January 19, 2010
• Defend the Filipino - January 19, 2010
• Wrong Perceptions of Americans - January 19, 2010
• Gossips are everywhere - January 19, 2010
• Colonial Mentality - January 19, 2010
• The Real ‘Filipino Time’ - January 19, 2010
• On Our Sense of History - January 19, 2010
• Crab Mentality Is Universal - January 19, 2010
• It’s Not Lack of Discipline - January 19, 2010
• All Nations Have Graft and Corruption - January 19, 2010

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