The tricycle story

I KNOW an old story ago about an overseas Filipino worker who decided to retire in his province. The OFW was able to save enough to start a small business so he started surveying the locale and researching on what business would be best for him to invest in.

After diligent information gathering, he discovered that his kumpadre, who was also a retired OFW, had started a tricycle business some years earlier and was quite successful in his endeavor.

And so, he decided that the best business that would make the most money in a short time would be to put up his own tricycle business, and so he did. And the business was also profitable. And so, he encouraged his fellow OFWs who were planning to retire in the same area to also setup the same business, owing to his success and that of his kumpadre.

And so, the tricycle businesses sprouted in almost every corner of the locale.

Pretty soon, the streets were full of tricycles. After a few years, these machines began to suffer from the usual scrimping on maintenance and thereafter, these motorcycles began spewing more and more exhaust and people started having breathing problems.

To top it all, since there was a lot of competition all around, the tricycle operators started to organize their drivers into groups to be able to corner the passenger market. Pretty soon, brawls became prevalent in the area with bloody confrontations every day. An informal “mafia” was established, complete with protection by local authorities. A group that had powerful connections had better chances of dominating the market. And so, more violence erupted, more bloody clashes occurred, the locale became a jungle of hoodlums.

The riding public was suffering from the breakdown in peace and order, compounded by health problems what with all the pollution and smog and tensions that arose from the proliferation of too many tricycles.

The locale became almost a “no man’s land” and consequently its residents decided to relocate somewhere else. More and more people migrated to other safer and healthier places. Soon, the number of tricycles far outnumbered the passenger population.

And so, the tricycle business began to deteriorate, and many lost profits and income. And when the operators tried to dispose of their aging machines, no one was buying except the scrap and junk dealers. To be able to protect the locality and justify their existence, the local authorities began enforcing the law and pressuring these operators to shape up.

So it came to pass that the once thriving tricycle businesses faltered and failed. Many drivers lost their jobs. There were not many passengers lining up to get rides anymore, owing to the breakdown in peace and order, rising transport prices and the fuel crisis.

In the end, the OFWs lost heavily in a short span of time. With no assured revenues, and no more capital on hand, they had to apply to employment agencies for jobs abroad to enable them to feed their respective families. This happened to only one generation.

And since they were already advancing in age, their children had to do the same thing to augment their meager income. Some even had the misfortune of having their families break up due to domestic issues.

There are many lessons to be learned from the above story but I leave most of it up to you, our dear readers, to itemize them. One glaring observation is that even if we Filipinos are a creative people, we easily get swayed with the herd mentality — the more people involved in an undertaking, the “safer” and more confident one becomes.

We do not dare think out of the box for lack of confidence. Which means ignorance and methodologies have a lot to do with it. When one “joins” similar projects as investments, it’s a lot easier to to lay the blame on others and not on one’s personal failures. Whatever happened to owning up to one’s failures to learn and rise above it and succeed next time?

And so, here we are, where we are, and our present government’s capabilities are being tested by all these food issues.

I am hoping that these cartels stemmed from the tricycle story I narrated above. Because of the shortages, importation was the only clear solution. So, the cartels made money. Sugar did it and then onions. Then monggo followed suit. And then eggs. I daresay even hot pepper or sili prices will rise, before these cartels either implode from greed, or government acts decisively.

Either way, the public has to suffer for some time.

This is dangerous because food or the lack of it will always be the fuse ready to ignite anti-government activities which the opposition will always use to its advantage.