What would you define as government and public services in the Philippines? The obvious answer would be things like water and electricity. The not-so-obvious answer would include residential telephone services and other services that are necessary for the majority of the public (and sometimes a minority of the public). Services do not have to be government-run or government-owned in order to be considered public services.
What follows are a few my experiences and observations while residing in Olongapo City, Philippines.
Electricity
When I was deployed here with the US military in the early 1980s, there were brownouts almost every day. Brownouts are still a fact of life here in the Philippines and rarely does a week go by without at least one brownout occurring. I read somewhere that the local power plant is considered modern. Modern by what standards?
The Philippine Utility Department (PUD) has shut off power for periods of a few minutes to hours at a time, without rhyme or reason. The short outages seem to be taken well by most residents, including me. Everyone complains, as they should, when they last for more than an hour. Any power outage for more than just a few minutes will usually result in a water outage as well. Even after the electricity service is restored, it can take another 30 minutes or more for the water supply to return to normal.
Water
The water distribution here is controlled by the Subic Water & Sewerage Company based at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, adjacent to Olongapo City. They do the same thing as PUD, except with the water supply, by turning off water at any given time without rhyme or reason. This is in addition to the outages that coincide with the power outages.
Back in the 1980s, I noticed that most people shared community wells. I don’t see too many of them anymore — most people are relying on the municipal water supply. Of course, many complaints are lodged when unscheduled outages last 12 hours or more.
I don’t know anything about the local mail service (local to local mail) because I never receive any. The utility companies hand-deliver the monthly bills.
International mail is horrible. Regular 1st Class mail from outside of the country can take up to 3 months to arrive, if it arrives at all. Most of the people I know use FedEx and other services to receive mail from the US, even though it’s much more expensive. I haven’t heard of a lost FedEx letter in the time I’ve been here.
In the US, the regular mail service was privatized years ago. The service improved seemingly overnight. I wonder if privatization is even a viable option for the Philippines.
Residential Telephone Service
Residential telephone service is a public service required by people like me — people who have to have the service in order to have an Internet connection. In a lot of areas locally, DSL and prepaid dial-up cards are the only options available.
On two separate occasions, I suffered 24-hour periods in which I had no dial tone. A call to the telephone company’s trouble desk didn’t seem to speed up the restoration of service. Each time, they could not tell me why I lost the dial tone in the first place.
Internet Service
More and more people are getting connected at their homes instead of at Internet cafes. It’s only natural to consider Internet service as another necessary public service.
I’ve had my share of troubles with poor technical support and so have many others. In December of 2006, I had no broadband service for a period of time due to the earthquake near Taiwan. It’s probably the only time that a lack of service was justified. On another occasion, I didn’t have Internet service for 24 hours because someone cut through the fiber optic line in the city — and it took them 22 of those hours just to find the cut.
Transportation Services
There isn’t a lack of transportation services in Olongapo City, or anywhere in the Philippines that I know of. In fact, there are so many jeepneys, tricycles, buses and taxis (but no local taxis that I’ve seen) that it’s annoying. It’s sometimes impossible to pass them when they’re going extremely slow due to the heavy traffic coming from the opposite direction. Never mind the level of noise — it doesn’t decrease until you get out of the downtown areas.
Airline services continue to improve. Philippine Airlines by itself has more flights than it ever had before and they have daily flights to the US. Busing services are on the rise as well. I see buses all over the place.
Overcoming Deficiencies
I have to save for a few more months, but I plan to overcome at least a couple of the deficiencies I’ve mentioned. I plan to get a backup generator, automatic if possible, for the brownout periods and a gravity tank for water storage for the water outage periods.
I have a pressure tank for the water, which is useless, but I won’t get into that right now. A gravity tank is a much better idea.
I’ve been told by the cable company (Colorview) that cable Internet should be available in my area sometime next year. I’ve heard that song and dance before, but I’m being optimistic in believing them this time.
Final Thoughts
It may seem that I’m saying that the government and public services in the Philippines are poor all the time, but it’s simply not true. Weeks and even months can go by without anything unusual happening. It’s just that when it does, it seems to happen frequently for weeks at a time.
So… when the service is good, it’s really good and when the service is bad, it’s really bad. There isn’t any middle ground.
Your backup ideas may not be a bad idea here in the states either. The Georgia, US had some serious water issues last year and people were all into putting in rain barrels.
Interesting blog. Some of the things we take for granted. Gives me a better idea of how people live in other places.
Thanks!
The climate you live in means that these outages are slightly safer than they would be, here in Canada. For more than half the year, a power outage would mean the furnace quits running in most houses. If it is out for an extended period, water pipes will freeze. Not to mention the people!
My house has wood heat, so I could survive for a long time without power. Almost everyone else is completely dependent on it.
Fortunately, power outages are rare here and usually related to a major weather event or a local accident involving a power pole.
My latest blog post: Shopping For A New Bar Sound System For the Redneck Bar and Grill
Wow you never really think how other people live or how things are done in different places in the world.
My latest blog post: Michigan SEO, SEO your way out of an economic funk
ah, the philippines. while i do live here, and i feel attached to the people, i do find the state of the government and public utilities rather sad.
i’m only thankful that at least, in terms of communication, more options are becoming available. the significance of low landline penetration was somewhat diluted by the spread of mobile phones. hopefully wireless broadband service will reduce the significance of traditional wired broadband services.
but we’ll see.
My latest blog post: captivating Capiz, a haiku poem
This is an interesting article. I didnt think it would be but I think it raises an interesting point. Many people only see government from the United States point of view or whatever country you live in. Some countries have different views on the matter. Interesting stuff.
I hate Indonesian Internet Connection.. :(
If you’re trying to convince people to move to the Philippines, you are not doing a very good job, ha ha. I don’t know how I would live with utilities of that quality, but I’m sure you get used to it.
Yeah RT, you’re not! :grin:
People here takes what life gives them. Some people just don’t know that there is something better for them.
Hi RT,
Not exactly an uplifting post… :)
A good reminder not to take things for granted. Hard to imagine the water being shut off. Wow.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I just got the feedburner email on this post now. It seems to run 12 to 24 hours behind, but this one was a couple of days? Don’t know that it matters or that you can do anything. I stop by your blog regularly anyway even if I don’t get the email, and I saw this post shortly after it went up. Steve (aka “trade show displays”)
Feedburner is flaky. It’s one of the reasons I don’t show my feed count anymore.
No cable internet here, either. But, everything is semi-privatized. It seems a little more reliable than there.
My latest blog post: waiting
Going without like that when you haven’t experienced it can definately throw you off course a bit. We here in America take things for granted big time! Thanks for sharing.
We all would have to just adjust to that lifestyle.
Do the people who live there protest any of this? I feel happy to be in America.
This is a interesting site. It’s really nice to know how people in other places survive and live.
This makes me appreciate public service more. I have back up generator after the last few years we have had a few power outages for more than a day. I was tired of no tv and food going bad in fridge.
No Internet access made me go thhrough withdrawls. I plan on doing one thing each year to make home more self sufficient and the gravity water tank seems like a great idea . My next purchase will be wood heater in case power goes down in winter like it did 2 years ago for mutiple days. Even if i do not use any of the things i feel better knowing i can do well with out the services.
My latest blog post: cheap dsl provider services
Wish the transportation system in my place was as good as yours. Driving is tiring, Many times I’d rather just hitch a ride asap if I can
I guess most people take things for granted. The worst we ever had is power go off in ice storm. Never had any problems with water gas or even phone before so we are lucky.
The issues you describe are a lot of the reasons I would not want to live in a 3rd world country. Don’t get me wrong they definitely have their charm but I don’t know how much I could take. Electricity and water problems could become major issues especially in times of monsoons.
There are ways around it and I’ll write about that in the future. Basically, it involves diesel generators and gravity tanks. You can be set up for any emergency for less than $1500 in US dollars.
Life in the Phils is indeed hard. That’s why we always try to come up with new ideas in puppetry to entertain everyone. We hope to see you in our next show!
I’ve spent some time living in the Philippines and I agree with you about their government services. I would also like to find a way to help facilitate the maturing of these facilities.
California Real Estate Loan
I find the government people to be very useless.
Here is one example.
I am now using jeepneys and busses to travel about in Metro Manila, and I don’t know which jeepneys and which busses go from where to where, so that I will know where to proceed to to take a ride in order to get to where I want to arrive at.
So I went to the LTFRB (read that as the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board) national office, to inquire whether they have a routes map of jeepneys and busses, because this is the government office granting franchises for jeepneys and busses to operate, and also approving their routes.
What did that get me? Nothing, except a reference to go to the DOTC which is the Department of Transportation and Communication.
So I called up the offices of the DOTC inquiring about routes maps, and after getting the run around of offices, a personnel told me I should go to the Department of Public Works and Highways.
I am absolutely certain that the guys there in public works and highways have no routes maps, for the simple reason that they are not into issuing regulatory directions to be observed by operators of public transports.
So, you see, how useless these guys are, and don’t bother to go the Department of Tourism.
I looked up their website, the Department of Tourism, and there is no mention at all in their nooks and crannies: on how to get about with jeepneys and busses, how much less producing a routes map.
All these guys in the pertinent government offices don’t seem to ever know about routes maps of public transport carriers, or if they know about them they don’t care, or don’t have any intelligence to come to the idea that they should produce routes maps.
Now, I am going again to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, and demand to see the headman there. to insist that they make available to me their computer data of routes covered by jeepneys and busses, for I will copy these records of routes for my own use.
It is good that now in every government offices there is a citizens charter prominently displayed for citizens to know that: they have the right to see the officials directly and demand action.
And common sense should tell the headman there that if any office at all should produce routes maps, it is his Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.