You can read again about this whole ordeal we had to contend with here: http://carbonaramara.blogspot.com/2010/07/not-smiling-at-dhl-and-bureau-of.html.
Another thing here is, in addition to my three earlier posts, that DHL told us, before we agreed to paying those SCAM payments, that they have paid the customs 1,500+ pesos and that they will give us the receipt for the payment of such. Liars! The customs receipt was only around 900+ pesos!
I heard from other complaints that fees you pay to DHL for "customs charges" are larger than through other carriers. (Refer to links I posted in the earlier posts.)
I will lobby to Amazon against the use of DHL as courier for future shipments to the Philippines. They are abusive. They are liars. They are thieves. They are rapists of victims already murdered by the Customs! These people have no soul, no heart, no responsibility, selfish, no sympathy. Maybe because they are not a Filipino company? And they demand the same steal-from-(your-fellow-)Filipinos attitude from their Filipino employees?
Boycott DHL! Never, ever again. Their reputation to me is beyond reparation. I don't know about you.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Boycott DHL: Update
I've talked about the Customs putting duty taxes on books contrary to an international agreement that the Philippines was a signatory to years ago to meet their revenue targets, and DHL automatically paying such duty taxes without consultation or chance for review by us recipients and therefore we are supposed to pay for any artificially inflated duties. Anyways, we've complained, diplomatically, to DHL about the inflated shipping charge on which the duty was based on, and guess what. The fun never ends.
So I mentioned yesterday that the shipping costs for our shipment was only 29 USD but on DHL's statement it says 55 USD and so duty taxes being levied on us were artificially inflated. We complained about this and essentially, a certain Ms. Rose from DHL essentially told us (not verbatim), "That's the standard shipping rate used in these computations, and it's the one for shipments from the US. You should be thankful to us because they did not use the standard shipping rate for shipments from Japan which would have been higher."
YES FOLKS, DHL CLAIMS WE SHOULD EVEN BE GRATEFUL TO THEM IN THIS SITUATION. Personally, I would be more grateful if DHL closes shop in the Philippines. Heck, wherever else they are a pain in the lower back of the people there.
So next, calmly we asked them for documentation as to where such "standard shipping rates" are listed. Ms. Rose confirmed that there is such a thing of course and that they can produce the document, but she asked us to look for it instead ourselves on the (Philippine) Bureau of Customs and the IATA websites.
This is what I call WASHING THE HANDS. It is also called BEING IRRESPONSIBLE. Sadly, on DHL's website you can see they would like to be RESPONSIBLE... to the environment and to little school kids (awwww). But apparently NOT TO THEIR CUSTOMERS. In our case, they probably don't consider us as customers. So what do they consider us (recipients of parcels)? Nuisance? That's how I feel in all this mess. They don't think that we could be potential customers in the future. I guess they don't want that to happen. And I can tell you with this incident, that will never happen. Unless, like the liars that they are, they change their name (from DHL) and no one knows about it.
Anyways, this is also what I consider "diversionary tactics." This is what LIARS and SCAMMERS do when they have lied to you and are scamming you. For example, a liar/scammer would approach a young, innocent child and ask him to "donate" 100 pesos to a certain charity, and he gets to receive a special gift right away (worth much less than 100 pesos), and that his name and other donors' names would be announced tonight "at 8:00pm on radio station XXX." So what happens is the scammer runs away with the poor child's money, and there really is no such announcements on any radio show.
This is exactly what DHL is doing by diverting us to go visit the Customs and IATA websites when IT SHOULD BE THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVE TO US THAT THEY ARE NOT STEALING MONEY FROM US.
I mean come on, if you are really willing to help, you don't have to "divert" us. Just do it. Or you can just say "I'll get back to you." No need for diversions! BUT NO, WE WON'T EVER BE GRATEFUL FOR SERVICE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO GIVE US ANYWAY, BECAUSE IT HAS ALREADY BEEN PAID FOR. If you are unhappy with your job, or unhappy with certain customers, then change careers!
Anyway, this is very, very unprofessional of DHL, in my opinion! Yes, DHL Management. If you didn't know yet, your staff reflect what kind of people you are. If you think you need to remove some people from your staff... and I think you will think of doing just that... I think an overhaul is necessary if you ever want to gain trust from us every again. For now, no, never DHL again. There are just other better options out there.
Boycott DHL!
By the way, I am not affiliated with any other shipping/courier companies.
Anyways, for more interesting reading, visit these forums:
http://www.gamingnewslink.com/2008/07/30/bureau-of-customs-taxes-on-play-asia-orders-to-the-philippines/
http://bmpm.abs-cbnnews.com/blogs/ems-post-office.html
http://forums.ebay.ph/thread.jspa?threadID=600000275&start=0
As I mentioned, the Bureau of Customs' crime against the Filipino people, and their getting away with it has led to companies such as DHL apparently taking advantage of these situations, further adding insult to injury.
From the experiences of other people, another entity to avoid is this certain Post Office in Pasay, where usually most parcels sent by EMS are dropped off. Customs officials there are said to have this "You're wrong, I'm right, if you really want your parcel, pay me whatever I tell you to pay me" attitude. I am so over this attitude; I hear it a lot from cops in the Philippines. But hey, I'm not saying it's only in the Philippines. I experienced such an attitude from a cop in India as well. I think you could expect something similar also in developed nations like Japan. Even if the whole world was doing it, that doesn't make it right.
So I mentioned yesterday that the shipping costs for our shipment was only 29 USD but on DHL's statement it says 55 USD and so duty taxes being levied on us were artificially inflated. We complained about this and essentially, a certain Ms. Rose from DHL essentially told us (not verbatim), "That's the standard shipping rate used in these computations, and it's the one for shipments from the US. You should be thankful to us because they did not use the standard shipping rate for shipments from Japan which would have been higher."
YES FOLKS, DHL CLAIMS WE SHOULD EVEN BE GRATEFUL TO THEM IN THIS SITUATION. Personally, I would be more grateful if DHL closes shop in the Philippines. Heck, wherever else they are a pain in the lower back of the people there.
So next, calmly we asked them for documentation as to where such "standard shipping rates" are listed. Ms. Rose confirmed that there is such a thing of course and that they can produce the document, but she asked us to look for it instead ourselves on the (Philippine) Bureau of Customs and the IATA websites.
This is what I call WASHING THE HANDS. It is also called BEING IRRESPONSIBLE. Sadly, on DHL's website you can see they would like to be RESPONSIBLE... to the environment and to little school kids (awwww). But apparently NOT TO THEIR CUSTOMERS. In our case, they probably don't consider us as customers. So what do they consider us (recipients of parcels)? Nuisance? That's how I feel in all this mess. They don't think that we could be potential customers in the future. I guess they don't want that to happen. And I can tell you with this incident, that will never happen. Unless, like the liars that they are, they change their name (from DHL) and no one knows about it.
Anyways, this is also what I consider "diversionary tactics." This is what LIARS and SCAMMERS do when they have lied to you and are scamming you. For example, a liar/scammer would approach a young, innocent child and ask him to "donate" 100 pesos to a certain charity, and he gets to receive a special gift right away (worth much less than 100 pesos), and that his name and other donors' names would be announced tonight "at 8:00pm on radio station XXX." So what happens is the scammer runs away with the poor child's money, and there really is no such announcements on any radio show.
This is exactly what DHL is doing by diverting us to go visit the Customs and IATA websites when IT SHOULD BE THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVE TO US THAT THEY ARE NOT STEALING MONEY FROM US.
I mean come on, if you are really willing to help, you don't have to "divert" us. Just do it. Or you can just say "I'll get back to you." No need for diversions! BUT NO, WE WON'T EVER BE GRATEFUL FOR SERVICE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO GIVE US ANYWAY, BECAUSE IT HAS ALREADY BEEN PAID FOR. If you are unhappy with your job, or unhappy with certain customers, then change careers!
Anyway, this is very, very unprofessional of DHL, in my opinion! Yes, DHL Management. If you didn't know yet, your staff reflect what kind of people you are. If you think you need to remove some people from your staff... and I think you will think of doing just that... I think an overhaul is necessary if you ever want to gain trust from us every again. For now, no, never DHL again. There are just other better options out there.
Boycott DHL!
By the way, I am not affiliated with any other shipping/courier companies.
Anyways, for more interesting reading, visit these forums:
http://www.gamingnewslink.com/2008/07/30/bureau-of-customs-taxes-on-play-asia-orders-to-the-philippines/
http://bmpm.abs-cbnnews.com/blogs/ems-post-office.html
http://forums.ebay.ph/thread.jspa?threadID=600000275&start=0
As I mentioned, the Bureau of Customs' crime against the Filipino people, and their getting away with it has led to companies such as DHL apparently taking advantage of these situations, further adding insult to injury.
From the experiences of other people, another entity to avoid is this certain Post Office in Pasay, where usually most parcels sent by EMS are dropped off. Customs officials there are said to have this "You're wrong, I'm right, if you really want your parcel, pay me whatever I tell you to pay me" attitude. I am so over this attitude; I hear it a lot from cops in the Philippines. But hey, I'm not saying it's only in the Philippines. I experienced such an attitude from a cop in India as well. I think you could expect something similar also in developed nations like Japan. Even if the whole world was doing it, that doesn't make it right.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Boycott DHL!
Yesterday I talked about the Bureau of Customs imposing taxes where there shouldn't be any, and more importantly these are on books.
But actually, there is another culprit, I don't know if they have some relationship with the Customs Bureau, but it feels like there is. I'm talking about DHL, the courier service.
When I bought two books and sent them to the Philippines, I understood that the cost of shipping is higher than the cost of the books, and that there might be some customs duty taxes that maybe imposed on the shipment. I've ordered books online before and I've never been charged any high customs taxes even for books that were worth more than US$ 50. I received those books through the Philippine Postal Service.
However, it is unfortunate that DHL was used for the shipping service this time around.
As I have mentioned on my blog post yesterday, there is some issue on the levying of customs duty taxes on imported books in the Philippines. Supposedly because the Philippines is a signatory to the Florence Agreement, there should be no duty taxes. But the Bureau of Customs in the Philippines, contrary to this international agreement, imposes duty taxes on books but no more than 5%, plus 12% value-added-tax.
We cannot do anything about this, so initially we could accept a 5% + 12% = 17% tax on our books, which is around 266 JPY (around 142 PHP) only of the 1567 JPY value of the books.
But now DHL is charging for so much more.
They said that the 17% should be charged on the cost of the books AND the shipping. So because the shipping cost (based on my invoice and as deducted from my credit card) is 2500 JPY, 17% of 4067 JPY (1567+2500) is 691 JPY (369 PHP). This is frustrating, but because we cannot fight against DHL or the Customs (we are but only citizens) and we cannot do anything about all this, okay fine, we can still accept paying such costs.
But now, they say that shipping charges are equivalent to around 4788 JPY, and not 2500 JPY! I don't know where they got that number, or how they invented a shipping cost of 4788 JPY when clearly from my invoice the shipping is only 2500 JPY! I mean if they know of any documentation, they should just provide us, right? But no, they just simply asked us to pay for taxes on a 4788 JPY shipping rate and not 2500 JPY. Don't they even check such very simple matter? They actually have a copy of our invoice with the actual shipping rate!
There is some word that if the cost of the shipments are less than 50 USD, there are no customs duties to be paid. I am not sure how true is this. But my orders' cost is approximately 18 USD, and the shipment cost (2500 JPY) is approximately 29 USD so the total is only around 47 USD. This is probably the reason why they artificially inflated the cost of shipment from 2500 JPY (29 USD) to 4788 JPY (55 USD), to increase the total "dutiable" costs from around 47 USD to 73 USD (now greater than 50 USD)! Apparently, 55 USD is already the cheapest rate. So if there is such a 50 USD exemption, and shipping charges are also levied a duty, and meanwhile they are using shipping charges over 50 USD, then practically all imports will be levied duty taxes?????? Again, I am not very sure about this 50 USD exemption. Maybe it's an old rule. Still, why inflate???
But anyway, clearly, someone is trying to steal money from us, and taking advantage of our situation (i.e. that we cannot fight them because they are a big company and we are only "customers").
DHL would claim that it is the Bureau of Customs that charges these things. But I heard that other shipping companies (like FedEx) charge much less than what DHL charges in terms of customs duties. Maybe because these other companies exert the extra little effort to report actual shipping costs to Customs. How difficult is it to look at a piece of paper?
And maybe those other companies are unlike DHL who charges a slew of other things: an import processing fee, a handling fee, and an "informal entry declaration." and we're also supposed to pay for value-added-taxes on a certain brokerage fee, "documentary stamps," and again the import processing fee. Okay, so maybe those are Customs-mandated fees. To tell you the truth, I see DHL and the Customs as one and the same thing. Or, that they are like "kumpadres." Birds of the same feather flock together.
This was sent by a certain Ms. Rose from DHL. Usually you would hear people just say "I'm only following orders from my superiors." Or I need to meet deadlines. Or targets. Whatever! Sounds like the Customs to me.
Anyone know e-mail addresses of big wigs at DHL we can flood with comments? Unfortunately for this Ms. Rose or whoever are on the first rung of the corporate ladder, they might also need to find a new job, because typical of many big companies in the Philippines, they just fire off these frontliners who make a bad name for them, to "wash their hands" on this matter. The thing is, this is DHL. DHL should take responsibility. Otherwise, obviously DHL is not a service we can trust.
So now they are charging us a total value of equivalently 2953 JPY, which is almost TWO TIMES the value of the books we ordered, and nearly THREE TIMES more than what we believe should be the total of customs taxes (customs duties and value-added-tax) that we should only be paying for.
We are willing to pay for the customs taxes and those alone, because those are the only ones I expected to pay. We are not willing to pay the additional charges that DHL or Customs (are they twins?) has put upon us, including the artificial adjustment of the shipping costs which affected the amount of taxes.
But also apparently, DHL already paid (or so they say) the duty taxes before consulting with us, and hence there cannot be any negotiations anymore with the Customs. So we cannot anymore argue about the inflated shipping charges on which they based their duty taxes on. Something smells fishy. Does DHL people have informal agreements with Customs people??? Why is it that customs charges are larger when DHL is the shipping company, compared to when other companies are used???
We cannot do anything about this now. Except definitely, all online establishments should not choose DHL anymore, and definitely no, we consumers, who pay for services such as this, should not choose them anymore as welll. Or at least that there should always be an option to choose which shipping company to use, so that we can choose companies other than DHL.
DHL should likewise pay for all their sins against the Filipino people. Or at least show some concern! They are being accomplices of and just as evil (or maybe more) than the Customs. If the Customs are Cultural Killers, DHL is like a rapist of the already murdered victims. Apparently, blood is thicker than water. Their Kumpareng Customs' trust is more important than ours.
Boycott DHL!
P.S. Refer to this link again: http://rubylovesadventure.blogspot.com/2010/03/boycott-on-dhl-express-philippines-for.html
But actually, there is another culprit, I don't know if they have some relationship with the Customs Bureau, but it feels like there is. I'm talking about DHL, the courier service.
When I bought two books and sent them to the Philippines, I understood that the cost of shipping is higher than the cost of the books, and that there might be some customs duty taxes that maybe imposed on the shipment. I've ordered books online before and I've never been charged any high customs taxes even for books that were worth more than US$ 50. I received those books through the Philippine Postal Service.
However, it is unfortunate that DHL was used for the shipping service this time around.
As I have mentioned on my blog post yesterday, there is some issue on the levying of customs duty taxes on imported books in the Philippines. Supposedly because the Philippines is a signatory to the Florence Agreement, there should be no duty taxes. But the Bureau of Customs in the Philippines, contrary to this international agreement, imposes duty taxes on books but no more than 5%, plus 12% value-added-tax.
We cannot do anything about this, so initially we could accept a 5% + 12% = 17% tax on our books, which is around 266 JPY (around 142 PHP) only of the 1567 JPY value of the books.
But now DHL is charging for so much more.
They said that the 17% should be charged on the cost of the books AND the shipping. So because the shipping cost (based on my invoice and as deducted from my credit card) is 2500 JPY, 17% of 4067 JPY (1567+2500) is 691 JPY (369 PHP). This is frustrating, but because we cannot fight against DHL or the Customs (we are but only citizens) and we cannot do anything about all this, okay fine, we can still accept paying such costs.
But now, they say that shipping charges are equivalent to around 4788 JPY, and not 2500 JPY! I don't know where they got that number, or how they invented a shipping cost of 4788 JPY when clearly from my invoice the shipping is only 2500 JPY! I mean if they know of any documentation, they should just provide us, right? But no, they just simply asked us to pay for taxes on a 4788 JPY shipping rate and not 2500 JPY. Don't they even check such very simple matter? They actually have a copy of our invoice with the actual shipping rate!
There is some word that if the cost of the shipments are less than 50 USD, there are no customs duties to be paid. I am not sure how true is this. But my orders' cost is approximately 18 USD, and the shipment cost (2500 JPY) is approximately 29 USD so the total is only around 47 USD. This is probably the reason why they artificially inflated the cost of shipment from 2500 JPY (29 USD) to 4788 JPY (55 USD), to increase the total "dutiable" costs from around 47 USD to 73 USD (now greater than 50 USD)! Apparently, 55 USD is already the cheapest rate. So if there is such a 50 USD exemption, and shipping charges are also levied a duty, and meanwhile they are using shipping charges over 50 USD, then practically all imports will be levied duty taxes?????? Again, I am not very sure about this 50 USD exemption. Maybe it's an old rule. Still, why inflate???
But anyway, clearly, someone is trying to steal money from us, and taking advantage of our situation (i.e. that we cannot fight them because they are a big company and we are only "customers").
DHL would claim that it is the Bureau of Customs that charges these things. But I heard that other shipping companies (like FedEx) charge much less than what DHL charges in terms of customs duties. Maybe because these other companies exert the extra little effort to report actual shipping costs to Customs. How difficult is it to look at a piece of paper?
And maybe those other companies are unlike DHL who charges a slew of other things: an import processing fee, a handling fee, and an "informal entry declaration." and we're also supposed to pay for value-added-taxes on a certain brokerage fee, "documentary stamps," and again the import processing fee. Okay, so maybe those are Customs-mandated fees. To tell you the truth, I see DHL and the Customs as one and the same thing. Or, that they are like "kumpadres." Birds of the same feather flock together.
This was sent by a certain Ms. Rose from DHL. Usually you would hear people just say "I'm only following orders from my superiors." Or I need to meet deadlines. Or targets. Whatever! Sounds like the Customs to me.
Anyone know e-mail addresses of big wigs at DHL we can flood with comments? Unfortunately for this Ms. Rose or whoever are on the first rung of the corporate ladder, they might also need to find a new job, because typical of many big companies in the Philippines, they just fire off these frontliners who make a bad name for them, to "wash their hands" on this matter. The thing is, this is DHL. DHL should take responsibility. Otherwise, obviously DHL is not a service we can trust.
So now they are charging us a total value of equivalently 2953 JPY, which is almost TWO TIMES the value of the books we ordered, and nearly THREE TIMES more than what we believe should be the total of customs taxes (customs duties and value-added-tax) that we should only be paying for.
We are willing to pay for the customs taxes and those alone, because those are the only ones I expected to pay. We are not willing to pay the additional charges that DHL or Customs (are they twins?) has put upon us, including the artificial adjustment of the shipping costs which affected the amount of taxes.
We cannot do anything about this now. Except definitely, all online establishments should not choose DHL anymore, and definitely no, we consumers, who pay for services such as this, should not choose them anymore as welll. Or at least that there should always be an option to choose which shipping company to use, so that we can choose companies other than DHL.
DHL should likewise pay for all their sins against the Filipino people. Or at least show some concern! They are being accomplices of and just as evil (or maybe more) than the Customs. If the Customs are Cultural Killers, DHL is like a rapist of the already murdered victims. Apparently, blood is thicker than water. Their Kumpareng Customs' trust is more important than ours.
Boycott DHL!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Philippines' Bureau of Customs: Corruption Den & Cultural Killers?
There is an international treaty called the Florence Agreement to which the Philippines is a signatory. It basically calls for books to be duty-free; that is if they are imported, no duty taxes are to be levied by the Bureau of Customs (or equivalent) of each respective signatory country.
For around 50 years, this was in effect here in the Philippines. But only until 2005 came when the Bureau of Customs (BOC) were under fire for not meeting revenue targets. When one importer brought in a bunch of books of the international bestseller, Twilight, one customs inspector named Rene Agulan thought of opening the imports and then imposing duty tax. Soon after, the BOC issued a department order that said only "educational, scientific, and cultural" books are duty-exempt. This was echoed as well by a BOC Undersecretary. And so you could say importing almost any kind of book in to the Philippines would mean you have to pay duties. Even if it was "educational, scientific, or cultural," you would still be required to secure a certification from the Department of Education (DepEd). No, it's not easy to do that. Not with all the RED TAPE in the government. So who would import books? Or, now imported books sold at local stores are even more expensive (and hence less accessible)!
This, to me and many other book lovers and booksellers, is obviously a crime against the Filipino people. You are practically limiting access to all this wealth of books available from outside. I don't know how anyone could grow by staying at home and without learning from what is outside the home.
To tell you the truth, I am very, very angry about all this.
They even levy a tax on the shipping charges! So I had books sent, amounting to around 840 pesos, with shipping and handling costs around 1645 pesos. We are being charged more than 1500 pesos in duty taxes for all this! What?
We are only members of the "madla;" we cannot fight these people who have ropes around our necks in this situation. So fine, we will pay. But I read that the maximum duties to be levied are supposedly only at 5%, plus VAT (12%). Okay, fine, because we cannot fight these cowards (i.e. they pick on somebody less powerful than them - us), we will pay. But 5% + 12% = 17% of 840 pesos is not anywhere near 1500 pesos. But no, their stupid rules say supposedly the 17% tax total is on the 840+1645=2485 pesos! But still that is nowhere near 1500 pesos!
This is one thing I hate about MANY FILIPINOS. Many I know commit wrong things and they justify it. They come to you with a straight face and say "I am not wrong, you are." Or, "pasensya na po, trabaho lang po." This is exactly what they are doing. Selfish!
Anyways, I am really so angry about this. For more, visit these two very informative links:
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/manila/1dispatch6.html
http://blogs.inquirer.net/current/2009/05/10/the-great-book-blockade-of-2009-timeline-and-readings/
It is difficult to contest government, even in this so-called-democratic Philippines. No, there is no freedom here. Media should be careful of what they report, the husband of former President Arroyo said, after tens of media reporters were ambushed in Mindanao.
I mean now, here we are up against a government entity, the BOC. Who can we go to? The Police? Another government entity? Why would I trust them?
Well we can't do anything for now. Not us. We need to be one big voice. The People Power Revolt of 1986 should have erased all remnants of corrupt people in government, but no it has now showed how much power people in government actually have. I hate to say it, but I think now because People Power is needed to topple corrupt governments, people in government now use this to take advantage of people. Who needs another People Power revolt? And who wants to do it again?
Calling on P-Noy. I think only he can do something about all this.
For around 50 years, this was in effect here in the Philippines. But only until 2005 came when the Bureau of Customs (BOC) were under fire for not meeting revenue targets. When one importer brought in a bunch of books of the international bestseller, Twilight, one customs inspector named Rene Agulan thought of opening the imports and then imposing duty tax. Soon after, the BOC issued a department order that said only "educational, scientific, and cultural" books are duty-exempt. This was echoed as well by a BOC Undersecretary. And so you could say importing almost any kind of book in to the Philippines would mean you have to pay duties. Even if it was "educational, scientific, or cultural," you would still be required to secure a certification from the Department of Education (DepEd). No, it's not easy to do that. Not with all the RED TAPE in the government. So who would import books? Or, now imported books sold at local stores are even more expensive (and hence less accessible)!
This, to me and many other book lovers and booksellers, is obviously a crime against the Filipino people. You are practically limiting access to all this wealth of books available from outside. I don't know how anyone could grow by staying at home and without learning from what is outside the home.
To tell you the truth, I am very, very angry about all this.
They even levy a tax on the shipping charges! So I had books sent, amounting to around 840 pesos, with shipping and handling costs around 1645 pesos. We are being charged more than 1500 pesos in duty taxes for all this! What?
We are only members of the "madla;" we cannot fight these people who have ropes around our necks in this situation. So fine, we will pay. But I read that the maximum duties to be levied are supposedly only at 5%, plus VAT (12%). Okay, fine, because we cannot fight these cowards (i.e. they pick on somebody less powerful than them - us), we will pay. But 5% + 12% = 17% of 840 pesos is not anywhere near 1500 pesos. But no, their stupid rules say supposedly the 17% tax total is on the 840+1645=2485 pesos! But still that is nowhere near 1500 pesos!
This is one thing I hate about MANY FILIPINOS. Many I know commit wrong things and they justify it. They come to you with a straight face and say "I am not wrong, you are." Or, "pasensya na po, trabaho lang po." This is exactly what they are doing. Selfish!
Anyways, I am really so angry about this. For more, visit these two very informative links:
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/manila/1dispatch6.html
http://blogs.inquirer.net/current/2009/05/10/the-great-book-blockade-of-2009-timeline-and-readings/
It is difficult to contest government, even in this so-called-democratic Philippines. No, there is no freedom here. Media should be careful of what they report, the husband of former President Arroyo said, after tens of media reporters were ambushed in Mindanao.
I mean now, here we are up against a government entity, the BOC. Who can we go to? The Police? Another government entity? Why would I trust them?
Well we can't do anything for now. Not us. We need to be one big voice. The People Power Revolt of 1986 should have erased all remnants of corrupt people in government, but no it has now showed how much power people in government actually have. I hate to say it, but I think now because People Power is needed to topple corrupt governments, people in government now use this to take advantage of people. Who needs another People Power revolt? And who wants to do it again?
Calling on P-Noy. I think only he can do something about all this.
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