And I'm back...
...to working. Not that I haven't been working.
So, after hybernating for nearly two months to concentrate on our RORO impact study which I learned will not be a regular study but more of a "book" (wtf?) yeah, a book! hahaha...what the heck do I know about writing a book, right? Anyways, that's an entirely different story. Back to the main point of this entry, I'm back to roaming the most obscure places in and around the Philippines.
Ok, I admit, the photos which i just posted are just plain boring, I know. And if someone who has never seen or visited the Philippines sees them, they'll probably think twice before wanting to come over. Well, these aren't meant to be "places to visit in the Philippines" photos. So for those who would like to know what I basically do for a living, well, here is a glimpse of what my job entails.
I basically go to places where RORO ports should've been constructed but weren't because of political reasons. We talk to the LGUs to tell them not to make the port an "entry barrier" but a "port of entry" and to not choke the port by applying excessive fees but even lower their fees to attract more traffic. More traffic means more business and more investments. More investments means more construction. More construction means increased land value. Increased land value means higher real estate taxes. Higher taxes means increased revenues for the Local Government. Most of all, more investments means more employment.
Why do we do this? Well, we basically want to connect all the islands. Because isn't it strange and sad that we're an island nation composed of 7,100 islands (high tide or low tide?) and yet our shipping industry is inefficient. Sucks, right? We have RORO ports and RORO vessels but there's no REAL RORO SERVICE. Instead of buses and trucks just rolling on and rolling off, why do we have to pay for arrastre or cargo handling when in fact our "cargoes" weren't even handled since we drove the darn thing inside, right? I mean, it wasn't lifted by a forklift or anything. And what the heck are forklifts doing in RORO ports to begin with? RORO nga eh. Roll on Roll off. And yeah, there's actually a RORO port in Bohol, Jagna to be exact, where arrastre services exists, forklifts and cargo handlers and all. Wtf right? So they declare it a RORO port. But there's a big BUT....The RORO ramp and the vessels are not exactly matched. Kinda like this.
And since there is a mismatch, they say that your vehicle cannot roll on and roll off. So they make a special
ramp thing and put your vehicle on it and they use a forklift to pick it up. Kinda like this...
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is cargo handling. Yes, they charge you for a service that shouldn't be there to begin with. And that's basically what we're trying to stop...and we've been busting our asses off since 2002. And we're slowly getting there. Slow being the operative term. But yeah, at least there has been some progress.
And to end this pointless rant, ports should be built in places where you don't have to pass through the town proper. In most cases, ports are found in the town proper which is kinda stupid because how the hell are the trucks going to fit when there are loads of people surrounding the port and the streets are as narrow as the minds of the people who put it there in the first place. Yeah, I'm mad.