Honest Baguio cabbie now an app designer

Baguio cab driver Reggie Cabutotan is now reaping the rewards of his good deed—returning a lost luggage to an Australian tourist—and designing a ride app for Baguio tourists which he hopes would make it safer to get rides in the summer capital.

BAGUIO CITY—The taxicab driver, who was hailed by the city government for returning the luggage of an Australian passenger in January, is now a junior programmer and has been designing a transport service app for Baguio tourists.

Reggie Cabutotan was honored by the Baguio government for returning the bag of Trent Shields, director of Coder Factory Academy, a technology school based in Australia.

Grateful, Trent offered Cabutotan a scholarship and to study at his firm’s partner company, Vivixx Technical Academy in Australia.

Cabutotan and 19 other students were now set for a four-week internship program, the last stretch of their six-month boot camp at Vivixx.

Cabutotan is completing an app he called the “Taxi Coder Tour Guide” for the boot camp. “It is an app similar to the system used by Grab but is specially designed for tourists who come to Baguio,” he said.

He also said he was working on the security features of the app “to ensure the safety of tourists.”

Before joining the boot camp, Cabutotan has never worked with computers. “I started from the most basic [lessons], as basic as typing on the computer,” he said.

Cabutotan and the 19 others would be the first graduates of the boot camp. Ace Estrada II, Vivixx president, said the program had applied for accreditation with the Technical Educational and Skills Development Authority.

Jason Bruno, Vivixx head teacher, said the first batch of students was composed of a chemical engineer, medical technologists, college dropouts, high school graduates and a taxi driver. Their ages ranged from 17 to 47.

“What we do is equip our students with the right tools to be able to keep up with the fast-changing times,” Bruno said.

Shields said: “We do not teach you to pass a test, we teach you to solve actual problems.” —KIMBERLIE QUITASOL