I Used to Be Here Always: Philippine Taxi Driver's: Are Abusive, Arrogant, Discourteous, Rude and Opportunist

As the Christmas season is getting near, a lot of people especially in Metro Manila are now preparing to buy something for their relatives as a gift during Christmas day. December is the month where malls and tiangges are encountering high volume of customers for the preparation of the holiday season. This is the only time of the year where relatives and family clans are having bonding and reunions.

Taxis in Philippines

Actually, my above statement is just my introductory of personal experience staying in the Philippines. The hospitality and generosity of Filipino people are extremely exceptional, I have a lot of Filipino friends whose working in a BPO industry which where I am working also, I have been working in the Philippines for almost 3 years and its quite amazing working with them.

The main purpose of my blog is to express how I feel with Philippine taxi drivers who are unscrupulous and taking advantage with the passengers/commuters mostly in Metro Manila. They don't even think that they are giving the Philippines a bad impression in the perception of the foreigners due to those exploitation of taxi drivers. The purpose of this blog is to notify the public especially the Philippine Government to have a greater punishment and higher penalty for Philippine taxi drivers who will be reported for being:

- Rude, Discourteous, Abusive and Arrogant to Passengers
- Refusing to Transport the Passenger
- Having Fast Taxi Meter
- Overcharging the Commuter to their Fare.
- Reckless Driver
- Maniac Driver
- Refusal to grant the 10 pesos discount of the commuters.
- Opportunist to passengers

Those mentioned grumbles above are the usual complains of an ordinary commuter most of the time. I can say that I normally experience them all daily. I've tried to file a complain by filling out this form of Land Transportation Franchising & Regulatory Board (LTFRB), http://ltfrb.gov.ph/main/getinvolved#sthash.5q5DWP6y.dpbs but unfortunately nothing happens, they haven't respond to my concern or even notifying me a receipt of message.

Here is my story, Last Friday, it was December 2, 2016, I had several scenarios of refusal and contracting going to my destination.

Philippines Taxi Meter

I was at the back of SM North EDSA looking for a taxi to ride going ti Ayala, Makati. I called the attention of the first taxi near me and it stopped in front of me, I talked to the driver in tagalog and I said "Manong, pwede po bang sa Ayala, Makati sa PBcom tower?" (can you drop me off to Ayala, Makati in PBcom)? the taxi driver replied, "Malayo yun, tapos ma-traffic pa, kung gusto mo isasakay kita pero Php 700, lugi kasi ako sa gas eh" (It's far and it's already traffic, if you want I can pick you up but you are going to pay me 700 pesos, it's a big consumption to my gasoline).

And then I replied "telling, Sir, it's too much expensive my normal taxi rate from here to Makati ranges from 280 to 350 pesos only. The taxi driver response, "Eh kung ayaw mo maghanap ka na lang ng taxi na iba, ang dami mong satsat" (if you don't want, look for other taxi, you have a lot saying) that's my first taxi scenario.

I looked for another taxi, it was peak hours during that time it was 5:30 pm and it took 10 minutes to find a vacant taxi, I called the attention of the second taxi driver, it stopped in front of me, I tell the driver to drop me off on Ayala, Makati near Pbcom. The driver agreed to convey me going to Makati. I thought it was all good along the way, when we were in EDSA Cubao, The driver keep saying that "Grabe, Ang traffic. Ma'am, kung gusto bayaran mo na lang ako ng Php 500, hindi na ako mag-memetro kung ayaw nyo baba na lang kayo dito sa Cubao. (It so traffic, Ma'am if you want you could pay me Php 500, I won't operate my taxi meter but if you don't want, you can now drop here in Cubao).

During that time, I was totally pissed-off and I don't know what to react my temper went high. To avoid any argumentation or any conflicts with the driver, I just agreed on his condition to pay him 500 pesos to drop me on Ayala Makati.

Private Taxi

It was an horrible experience specially for a foreign woman like me, this is not my country, I don't know where to run through or seek for help. I was traumatized of what happened and I told to myself that I would ride any Philippine Taxi anymore. I lost my confidence and trust with them now I would prefer to ride their transport competitor which is UBER even though it will take more minutes to arrived but still it safe and more reliable that the usual cab/taxi in the Philippines.

If in the future I would encounter same scenario again, I will post the plate number, taxi name, name of the driver and probably will take a photo of the driver and post it here in my blog. I am hoping that the LTFRB and the Philippine Government will have an immediate action to these kind of experiences we encountered with taxi drivers.

Here are the sample videos being caught and captured by the victims: