By Willie Jose
During my recent visit to the Philippines, I couldn’t help but notice the apparent breakdown in drivers’ discipline and their little or no regard for traffic laws — it’s a free-for-all over there. Drivers could pick up passengers anywhere on the streets, even stopping in the middle of the road.
While driving, one should always be alert for possible collisions with motorcycles snaking through the traffic; at one moment, they are in all the road’s corners, then, in a few seconds, they are in front of your car. After a while, they are on your car’s side, inching their way through the traffic. Mind you, most motorcycle drivers, including their wives and children riding with them, don’t wear crash helmets.
One time, I decided to take a jeepney going to Baclaran, and while we were cruising Taft Ave., our driver was driving like hell, stepping on his gas pedal as if he was alone using the road; then he picked up a mother and her young child right in the middle of UN Ave. Seeing him doing this, a traffic cop flagged him down and asked him for his driver’s license. Well, I was shocked when the driver told the policeman. No, I won’t give you my license, and they continued arguing. When I saw the cop’s right hand on the holster of his gun while demanding the driver turn over his license, I immediately got off the jeepney, fearing that the cop might draw his weapon –and who knows, something regrettable might happen.
Then I transferred to another jeepney, but to my surprise, two teenagers who looked so haggard got into the jeepney I was riding and sat in front of me, all the while bragging about their big catch: gold earrings. And after staying only for a few minutes, they jumped off the vehicle without paying the driver. The two high school students riding with us told me they had seen the two guys forcibly take the earrings from a young woman’s ears. Then they hopped into our jeepney and rode with us for a few minutes.
In another incident, when my wife and I were on our way to Landmark in Makati, while our jeepney was at the corner of Kalayaan and J.P.Rizal Avenues, waiting at the traffic light, three young boys, aged about 6 to 7 years old, jumped into the jeepney, begging for some money. When a man shooed them away, they got out of the vehicle, so angry, then threw stones at us; our driver sped away to escape the ire of these young boys. Well, you could imagine how these boys would grow up in this environment. A few days ago, before this incident, I had a chat with a Caloocan City cop who told me that there are notorious criminals these days aged 15-18. Still, the problem is that the authorities have been treating these young teens as ordinary juvenile delinquents.
One day, when I was going to Manila City Hall, I asked my sister-in-law where I could catch an FX van, and she told me I could get one near their place on J. P. Rizal Ave. I suspected the FX vehicle I was riding in was colorum. The driver hid the little cardboard sign with Taft Ave. written on it; he would only show it to some well-dressed passengers on the street who were probably regular FX passengers. This colorum public transport could enter any street, even if there is a No Entry sign for Public Utility Vehicles, because it’s a private van used illegally as a PUJ vehicle. While inside this vehicle, I overheard the driver talking over his cell phone, saying, “May kalaban ba diyan? Si Pareng Tony nahuli kasi kagabi.” (“Is there an enemy there? Pareng Tony was caught last night.”) Could you imagine how these illegal vehicles could ply Metro Manila’s routes right at the authorities’ very noses free of charge, not contributing a single centavo to the government coffers?
When we reached Manila City Hall, I saw pedestrians jumping over the steel barriers separating the streets from the pedestrian lanes. Even on roads with no jaywalking sign, the people just ignored this sign and crossed the street. And while crossing these streets, these pedestrians seemed unafraid at all; they would even stare at drivers as if to say, “Stop, I have the right of way.” I told myself, takot ang mga sasakyan sa mga tao.
Despite these once-in-a-lifetime experiences and the obnoxious fumes emitted by these jeepneys, I have nothing more to say except that I’ve enjoyed my jeepney ride back home; it’s an adventure which I’ll always treasure for the rest of my life.
Willie Jose is a freelance journalist, and his past experience includes serving as a reporter for the Bluffs Monitor, a copy editor for the Times Journal, and, now, a columnist for Balita, a community newspaper in Toronto. He’s an alumnus of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. He has recently written a book—Iskolar ng Bayan—published by Amazon.
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