Fooling the Filipino people — not only on April Fools’ Day

TODAY is April 1. It’s April Fools’ Day.

Though not a public holiday, April Fools’ Day is widely observed in many countries around the world on the first day of April. It is a day when people are allowed to play pranks or practical jokes on their friends, family members and colleagues. The pranks played on April Fools’ Day can range from harmless jokes to more elaborately planned hoaxes. The origins of this tradition are unclear, but it is believed to have started in Europe in the Middle Ages.

According to the History Channel, “historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.”

“People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes, and were called ‘April fools.’ These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as ‘poisson d’avril’ (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.”

Most Filipinos are easily deceived by propaganda, marketing schemes, and more recently, misinformation. Hence, they can easily qualify as gullible. And thus, “poisson d’avril.” Here are some everyday instances.

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Maynilad Water services

Maynilad sent text messages to its cornered customers saying that for an indefinite period of time there will be “daily water service interruption starting March 29, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. as part of a measure to preserve limited stored water, given the increased likelihood of an El Niño phenomenon happening by the latter half of 2023. Until then, sufficient rains are not expected to fall over watersheds to replenish the Angat and Ipo dams. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you.”

In the concession agreement dated Feb. 21, 1997, executed between the Manila Waterworks Sewerage System (MWSS) and the concessionaire, Section 5.1.2 clearly mandates that, “As soon as practicable, but not later than June 30, 2000, the concessionaire shall ensure the availability of an uninterrupted 24-hour supply of water to all connected customers in the service area.”

It is now 2023 and yet we, the customers of Maynilad never had an uninterrupted 24-hour supply of water. Maynilad is taking its customers for fools. Nevertheless, the MWSS continuously failed to act as a regulator but instead kept on defending the failures of Maynilad.

Who are the fools? The customers or the regulators?

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

In the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) undertook the bidding process for the production of some 116 million pieces of the Philippine Identification card, known as the national ID. The project was eventually awarded to AllCard Inc. even though it was not technically qualified to handle a project of such an enormous size.

The notice of award was signed by then-BSP governor Benjamin Diokno on Sept. 29, 2020. The notice to proceed (NTP) was issued to AllCard by BSP Director Rogel Joseph del Rosario on Oct. 1, 2020. The agreement between BSP and AllCard was approved and signed by Diokno on the same date that the NTP was issued.

To cut the story short, AllCard failed bigtime to meet its delivery targets. More so, the quality of the cards was inferior and substandard. As usual, BSP defended itself and claimed that the delay in card production was due to a lack of PSA personnel to operate machines and/or conduct inspections, and a limited supply of machine spare parts and consumables.

BSP is clearly fooling Filipinos. The TOR mandates that AllCard should be the party responsible for the operation of these printing machines and the continuous adequate supply of materials.

Who are the fools? The Filipinos or the BSP officials?

Expensive commodities

This country has experienced shortages of everything from salt to sugar over the past few months. One of the most popular scarce ingredient just a month ago was onions, of which the retail prices have become so absurdly high.

Bloomberg even reported that “the shortages of basic food staples are being felt throughout the economy and helped propel inflation to near the highest levels since the global financial crisis in 2008.” It said: “The World Food Program estimates that 1 in 10 households in the country are food insecure, with those reliant on agriculture most affected. The government and lawmakers blame greedy traders for hoarding food to create artificial shortages that allow them to jack up prices.”

Another necessity whose average price has kept on rising is fuel (e.g. diesel, gasoline). The pump prices fluctuate on an almost weekly basis — a price cut of about a peso this week followed by a P2 increase the next week. One step backward, two steps forward, resulting in a net price increase without the accompanying public howl. A fools’ game indeed.

In spite of shortages and abnormally high prices of commodities, the government kept reassuring the public that the food supply is sufficient and there is no cause for alarm. The Filipinos are being fooled once more.

April Fools’ Day is not just on April 1, but every day of the year. Alas, only in the Philippines.

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