This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 12, May 1-7, 2005
Survivor Manila A
taxi driver shows ingenuity by opening a store – inside his taxi.
BY
AILEEN ESTOQUIA It takes a lot of ingenuity
to survive in this country. That is what taxi driver
Timmy Romblon Jr. has learned and helped him survived. Unlike others who depend
on their keep from driving, he peddles trinkets-jewelry, hair accessories,
ornaments---right in his vehicle. These items, which range
from fancy earrings to Swarovski bracelets to scissors to padlocks, are lined on
the dashboard while others are hung around the front area, so that his taxi
appears to be a mobile store. Weird as it may seem, his
is a popular store. Out of items that he sells for P5 ($0.09) to P250 ($4.63),
he could gross as much as P1,800 ($33.33) in one day. His preference to stay
honest despite the rat race kind of living is the root of it all. “Metro lang kasi gamit
ko. Yung iba nangongontrata o nagpapadagdag, ayoko naman nun. Bawal yun.
(I only charge what the meter says. Others demand additional pay from their
passengers, but I don’t like that. It’s illegal),” he said in thick
probinsyano accent. With five kids to feed and
send to school, he said he had to think of ways to earn extra income. He had
been driving for six years and yet he found himself without any saving.
Ibon Foundation, an
independent research institution, reveals that it costs P613.30 ($11.36) for a
family of six to survive in Metro Manila. But while Romblon earned
P800-P1,000 ($14.72 - $18.4) a day from driving, his eldest, Mira Cris, was
already in college and his fourth child, Stanford Timmy Jr., was undergoing
chemotherapy due to a tumor in one of his testis. The boy had treatments four
times a month and had to take costly medicines on the side. His wife stays at home to
tend to their kids, so she couldn’t help him out. In January 2004, armed with
a P1,000 ($18.39) capital, Romblon went to Divisoria, the Manila public market
known for low prices and bought his first stock of paninda (items for
sale). The taxi-as-a-store concept was greatly appreciated by his passengers. So
much so that he had to go to Divisoria – Manila’s popular commercial district -
almost every day for more supplies. While he was initially
afraid of what authorities might say, he later discovered that even policemen
and Metro Manila Development Authority figures who man the streets here, admired
his ingenuity. “Okay to, ah,” (This
is awesome!) he recalls them often saying. Romblon’s son is okay now,
but only after he had spent about P400,000, which, on top of living and
education expenses, severely strained him. His taxi-store was a lifesaver for
the family. Romblon, 46, along with his
wife, is a native of Leyte, an island in central Philippines and one of the
poorest regions in the country. Because life was hard, he
came to Manila when he was only 14 years old to look for work. His first job was
as a dishwasher, then as a janitor at another company, and later as a welder in
a construction firm. While working, Romblon went
to school and earned a degree at the Philippine Marine Institute in no time. But
the danger of life at sea scared his wife and kept him from working on board a
ship, so he went back to welding. But because his earning
wasn’t enough to support his growing family, Romblon, like so many Filipinos,
worked in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan for two years each in the late from
1991-1997. In Taiwan, due perhaps to hard work, he became a foreman and was
given access to company cars. That was when Romblon learned to drive.
But still, life wasn’t any
easier. “Mahirap mag-abroad,
malayo sa pamilya (It’s hard to work abroad; you’re far from your family),”
he said. So he decided to come home
for good in 1997 and bought a Nissan Sentra LEC out of his savings so he could
have something to earn a living from. He actually planned on having a taxi
business, but after the second car he bought cost him more due to repairs rather
than gave him earnings, he gave up the idea. Romblon used to separate
the money he earned from his mobile store from those he got from driving. But
because of financial difficulties, he is sometimes forced to spend some of the
store money so he couldn’t replenish his supplies as often anymore. He goes to
Divisoria only once in three weeks now. Romblon also does not drive
as often as he did. “Tumatanda na kasi (I am getting older),” he said.
Where before he drove 12-15 hours everyday, he now drives only on Wednesdays,
Fridays and Sundays. Another driver rents the taxi on other days. Despite these already
stringent conditions, oil price increases continue to cut at his gross income,
he said. Unleaded gasoline, which he uses, now costs P31 ($0.57) per liter.
Of the proposed Value-added
Tax hike that will affect the prices of other basic goods, he said: “Okay
lang sana yang VAT, basta ilagay sa tama, hindi sa bulsa (I am okay with VAT
increase as long as it is used for its purpose, not for anyone else’s pocket).” Nevertheless, Romblon’s
house is a testament of his resourcefulness. Built out of his savings, it is
made of concrete and has a tiled floor. While sitting in his living room,
though, you might hear something that sounds like a cross between a generator
and a defective automobile machine. The sound comes from his
electric water pump, from which the family gets their supply of water everyday.
Sitting in an unused part of the house where the floor hasn’t been cemented yet,
the pump draws water from the ground and stores it in a tank. It refills
automatically when the tank becomes empty. Thus, Romblon doesn’t have to pay for
any water bill. Outside the house are five
pigs, one of which is a hog. The family raises them for birthdays and other
celebrations but, sometimes, they are sold for extra income. Romblon said they used to
have a sari-sari (variety) store at home too, which was put up at about
the same time that he converted his taxi into a mobile store. It went bankrupt
though in less than a year because his children always got food from it without
paying, he said. His eldest child and the
second, both girls, attend college at the Polytechnic University of the
Philippines. It is two hours away, but other schools nearby are expensive, so
they had no choice. When asked if he wanted to
go home to Leyte where life is simpler, Romblon said maybe he would after his
kids finish school. “Wala naming pagkakitaan dun. Pagkain meron, pero pera
wala, kaya di ko sila mapa-aral dun (There are no means of earning a
livelihood there. There is food but there is no money, so I can’t send them to
school there).” And then he smiled, with
dignity in spite of it all. Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
A Cab Driver’s Story of
Survival
BulatlatFor survival
Difficult roots
Stringent economic conditions
Tempered by adversity