Eksena sa Jeepney

I had this written when I was getting dramatic over my transportation boboos. I was supposed to add how drivers could also be very vulnerable - always at risk of having a passenger who is a robber or a hold - upper (is hold-upper a real word? or is that just Filipino English?), passengers who do not give the appropriate fare, or passengers who do not give their fare at all. And there are many stories about drivers' nightmares too.
Anyway, I got lazy. So I was not able to put the revisions that I wanted.

090105
Eksena sa Jeepney

People don’t care anymore... so it seems. And there is no better place to demonstrate this than in a public utility vehicle. Jeepneys, buses, FXs, taxis.
I usually try not to stress myself by hurrying to work in the mornings, but there are many days when one needs to rush and every split second is precious. But that is not what I wish to speak about.
I arrive here at work, more sad than indignant. I had been, during the past weeks observing how the public utility vehicle has become such a place of mistrust. A few examples:
A person asks if the jeepney will pass into a certain area where she wishes to go. The driver does not respond but allows the person to get into the jeep anyway. The person directs the question again to no one in particular, and the jeep moves on. The jeep was not going to the place where the person needed to go. I had to ask the woman again where she was going and told her to transfer to the other jeep plying that road.
I get into an FX from the Quezon Avenue and EDSA Highway intersection with the intention of going to Morayta. I gave a hundred and the driver gives me back seventy pesos. I was quite sure there was an injustice there (I allow myself to be corrected), so I asked the driver if the fare from the Highway to Morayta was really P30, in the hearing of my co-passengers. He said yes. My co-passengers remained silent. I got out still feeling overcharged and the feeling was intensified by the thought that the FX I rode in had the name, “God’s Resource” and the driver was tuned to a Christian radio station.
I get into an FX again, on my way to work. I get down at the boundary of Quezon City and Manila City, the landmark more popularly known as “Welcome Rotonda.” I paid twenty and expected at least a five peso change. Some drivers charge fifteen to that place from where I get in, but the charge ought to be only ten. I let it off when the driver charges me fifteen because I still think that it’s reasonable given the jeepney driver charges the same amount even with his less comfortable vehicle. The driver did not return my change immediately so I asked him for it during a traffic lull, repeating where I got in and where I was to get off, in the hearing of my co-passengers. He gave me a ten peso change, for which I was thankful. I then proceeded to take Nicholas Nickleby from my backpack and whiled the ride reading. I got quite engrossed, such that when I looked up from my reading, I was already at the railroad crossing at Vito Cruz. I was way far off from the landmark! I looked at the passenger in front of me and he avoided me with a knowing look. Nobody, not even my seatmates gave me a signal, and it doesn’t have to be awkward doing that because all they have to say is, “Miss, Welcome na.”

I appreciate the time when I was going to SM North from UP and there was a bunch of boys with me on the jeep. I sometimes have the habit of sleeping in jeeps when the route is familiar and long. I was surprised when I received a sharp tap on my knees. One of the boys took the effort to wake me up before they left. We were the last passengers on the jeepney. I somehow expected people to take such little gestures of social responsibility.

And the drivers also have their own share of horror stories.

But there are still greater reasons why the public utility vehicle is probably the most mistrustful place in the Philippines. Ask anybody who has been held up twice in an FX. Or someone who, while in an FX, witnessed a robbery going on at the jeep in front of them. Ask someone who would rather take the long route of hopping on the LRT and then on the MRT, only to avoid getting into a jeep or FX at ten in the evening. Ask anybody who sends text messages while his or her cell phone is still halfway inside his/her bag never fully exposing it.


For many people it is not already strange. Filipinos put up with little injustices and inconveniences as long as it does not happen to them. But it is very sad. If we cannot feel safe within our public utility vehicles, how can we feel safe in our country, I wonder.

Blessed!

The cleaning lady at our office came bursting in the conference hall where we and my office mates were having lunch. Quite agitated, most of us were afraid she brought in some terrible news as she held a newspaper in her hand and almost out of breath from emotion.

But it turned out to be an excited expression of happiness.

Her daughter was in the list of passers in the recently concluded licensure exam for teachers. She was so happy almost to the point of tears everybody in the room could not help but be jubilant with her.

Manang Vangie's daughter will probably become a teacher soon. Maybe then she would be able to take her family out of poverty. But Manang Vangie also rests hope on something else - and she is quite sure of it, so she says. Her daughter had come home after the exam declaring she would pass it - because she had the prayers of her church brothers and sisters and because the Lord has told her so. So Manang Vangie declares she will soon be rich with as much faith as her daughter showed. She had already sent ninety entries to the Nestle Christmas raffle promo, and she could feel it that she would win.

Some chuckle and go along.

But there was no doubt she was very happy today. Her daughter has just made her proud, and she's proven how God does take care of her and her family.

God bless them indeed.

FX Political Science 101

The driver of the FX I rode this morning has probably learned much from the radio programs he had been listening to. He made his own political and social commentaries while the radio anchor rattled on in the background. The other two passengers in the front seat were accommodating co-discussants.

Basically, it was Gloria. The radio had just announced some recent news related to a Gloria program.

“Plastic talaga.”

“ E ngiti nga ngiting aso na e.”

“Sinungaling na nga, ang galing pang magpalusot. Kababae niyang tao, di na nahiya.”

The driver did most of the talking. Mentioning how corrupt the government is already.

“Nung panahon ni Marcos kasi, isa lang nangungurakot. Si Marcos lang. Ngayon lahat na.”

That’s why, he said, the proposed budget has reached the trillion value mark. He thinks the President is trying to pay off the political debts she accumulated and the E-vat is also probably one of those means. He would never join any of those rallies, he continued. “Pero pag meron na yang E-vat na yan, sasama na talaga ako. Ang hirap nang magpagasolina. Linggo – linggo tumataas ng singkwenta.”

“Ang problema kasi sa gobyerno natin dalawa ang namumuno. Si Gloria at si Ramos. Makikining yung isa sa mga advisers niya, sasabihin niya dun sa isa. Tapos sasabihing di puwede. Wala talagang nangyayari.”

The conversation dwindled after some time. I couldn’t remember now how far it went. I had to get down. Taking note that the driver charged me five pesos more than my usual fare with other FX taxis and that his taxi had no name on the side. It was an interesting ride, nonetheless.

I guess the passengers had their share of live radio that morning. “Taxi driver commentaries” are sometimes entertaining but they are also the voice of the people.

Maybe the President should consider riding the public transport system more frequently.

Repackaged

October 6, 2005

While leaving the house this morning I was told how I already look like a government employee – which I am – at the moment and not the community organizer that I used to be. My beholder and I both wrinkled our noses on the thought. Not a bad thought, actually. This is, after all, the current show and I have my costume to wear.

The curtain’s up.

Jeepney Sin

Here's attempting to start being "engaged" with this blog.

It has been quite a while.

While the jeep I rode this morning was waiting for more passengers before taking off, a girl in long hair, short skirt and lots of make-up and jewelry got in and started rummaging her bag pockets. She found some loose change, which she placed in her coin box (because it was not a purse) and some loose paper and other bits of litter, which she promptly and unashamedly threw at the space behind the driver's seat and the passengers' seat. She got down at an area fronting a government office, which is probably where she goes to work.
The Philippines is not made filthy by the uneducated. It is the educated who do not care that makes this country so deplorable.