Sometime in 2006, I picked up my sister at the Manila Domestic Terminal just passed 1 in the afternoon. We were cruising along Andrews Ave. in Pasay City and upon reaching the T-junction by Aurora Blvd (Tramo) I was stopped by a Pasay traffic enforcer.”Shoot! Coding pala tayo,” I exclaimed as the enforcer walked towards the car.
All the while, I knew that the car was not suppose to ply the roads on that day, Friday. I figured I had a window between 10am and 4pm being that I was coming from Paranaque. However, Pasay City did not observe this window. But heck it, I was going to use this car anyway because I had to pick up my sister.
“Sir, coding po sasakyan niyo,” Mr. Enforcer said.
“Sir, pasensya na. Sinundo ko lang kapatid ko sa airport.”
“Bawal ho kasi sasakyan niyo ngayon. Alam niyo naman yan, di ba?”
As I tried to talk my way through the situation, another enforcer flagged down a vehicle. I assumed this was for the same violation of the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP)…because our car plates ended with the same number. The basic idea behind the program is that vehicles whose alphanumeric plate ends in a particular number is barred from using the main streets of Metro Manila on particular days (Wikipedia.org).
Then after a couple of minutes, the enforcer let the car go.
“Bakit siya pinaalis niyo?!” I oppugned.
My apprehender didn’t utter a word.
“Sir, lisensya niyo po. Titiketan kita ah.”
At this point, I was close to infuriating…but allowed myself to calm down.
He gave me my ticket and off we went our way. On the way back, I was contemplating on why they had to favor the other driver when we had committed the same violation. I didn’t take it personal though. I just thought those “Chocolate Boys” were a bunch of corrupt pricks.
Moving forward two years later, I would realize that this situation that I had gone through might just be the very reason why we, as Filipinos, would not progress.
Claire Algarme of Hands On Manila and I were having a conversation last Thursday, September 4, when the discussion moved to travel and travelling.
“You have visited numerous places here in the Philippines, and I would assume that you have encountered different cultures…” I said. “But what do you think is the common ‘thing’ that we as Filipinos share?”
In line with the public discourse, Claire reinforced the fact that we Filipinos are hospitable and we can easily get along with other cultures. She went on in saying that in her experience working abroad, she had heard and in fact felt the positive light that other nationalities regard Filipinos.
“But why is it that we, despite all our talents, won’t move forward?” was her rhetoric.
Incidentally, an American asked her the same question during her stay in Indonesia working with Habitat for Humanity.
“It’s because everyone wants to be the captain,” she answered, tongue-in-cheek. “How can you steer the ship when everyone wants to take the wheel?”
Then Claire moved on commenting that Filipinos have the tendency to bring each other down…and it’s more than the mere crab mentality phenomenon. We tend to place others at fault when we deem them guilty of the same crime we have committed.
“You cry foul when you’re caught beating the red light and you see your ‘cohorts’ escape apprehension.”
“Bakit sila ‘di niyo hinuli?!?”
We lean towards blaming others when we are caught hoping that by pointing our fingers to other violators we would be absolved from our crime.
“But crying, ‘Bakit sila di niyo hinuli!?!’ does not absolve or exonerate us from guilt,” Claire said.
That was when it hit me… and brought me back two years ago when I cried foul that Mr. Enforcer let Mr. Traffic-Violator-Number-2 go.
Not that I’m “lifting my own bench”, but the bright side to this was that I didn’t bribe him…I won’t…I don’t.
Until my conversation with Claire, I had always thought that I could and should never be singled out as a violator because, probably, there were others worse than me.
And since my conversation with Claire, I have believed that if I get caught as a violator, it is because I am guilty…and I should face the consequence without putting walls around myself–by blaming others who I deem as equal or worse offenders–in hopes of exoneration…
It’s an ironic observation on the streets seeing cars lining up at an intersection. More often than not, if a car beat that red light and safely crossed the intersection, others would follow. Same with pedestrians…everyone waits for the walk sign by the curb. But when one person crosses the street on red sign, it is sure that others will follow.
Early last week I was riding along Wilson in Greenhills on the way to school. I passed by a group of mountain bikers and marveled at their seemingly expensive bicycles.
I stopped at the intersections of Wilson and Ortigas Ave. waiting for the green, when the group caught up with me. Just as the green light turns on for the Pasig-bound vehicles to go, a cyclist beat the traffic light from our lane. Astonishingly, the others in the group followed suit, delaying the vehicles’ passage through the intersection.
“Pricks,” I said to myself.
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