Black Christmas

Bouncing back from flu two days before Christmas day means trying to resuscitate your taste buds at the moment a great buffet is to be served before you. Among other things, the virus breaks down your natural capability to savor the tastes in food and makes even the most delicious dish taste bitter. No matter how your mind urges you to gobble up foods, your taste buds invariably reject them.

Apart from losing my taste buds, I did not totally miss the funfare this Christmas. Thanks to Facebook which give me glimpses of the parties I missed, I was not totally shut out of circulation. Viewing and ‘liking’ the posted videos and photos, it was as if I were there.

A virus carrier had to voluntarily isolate himself. You should not get back in the groove right away after a bout with flu lest you give the virus away to many like a parting gift. Flu attacks every part of your being and the body pain extends up to the strands of your hair. To me, it is one of the most uncomfortable common illness that you do not want to infect friends with.

There’s a good side in everything even in getting sick during the holidays. For one thing, I was spared from the shopping rush and the terrible traffic that clog the streets during the holidays. Again, the alternate routes were redrawn and renamed Christmas lanes as if the traffic problem is the fault of Christmas. When a solution had been tried without success several times, most probably it would not work next time especially if the approach is just like repackaging the old ‘solutions’ with Christmas wrappers.

Things that cross my mind while on sick bay: what should be the right color of Christmas? We sing ‘white’ Christmas but there’s nothing really ‘white’ with Christmas in the Philippines. ‘Green’ is appropriate if Christmas means the go signal to race to the malls when the shopping frenzy starts. In fact, for most people, it’s a ‘red’ Christmas because it puts them in the negative money-wise buying gifts for everyone. This brings us to the point that the right color of Christmas should be ‘black’, bankbook with positive balance, which means not overspending on gifts, food, parties, entertainment, etc.

MY UNREMITTING ROMANCE WITH THE BUG

People fall into complicated relationships and get embroiled in a lot of troubles they cannot free themselves from. I am afraid I am in a similar situation. This is my de profundis confession about an enduring romance with a shapely thing that has gone on for seven years now.

Some hang ups are difficult to explain. In my case, there are only few things that I have cherished in life and these are usually old, antiquated items. Among them is a weird (in today’s standards) but lovable car, the Volkswagen Beetle. I had owned three in my previous life and currently, I am in possession of one. Some people find it strange that one can seem so fixated with one particular car make as if it is a big anomaly or an illicit affair. Admittedly, things can get to that level when guys become obsessed with activities and things that make the wife feel like a widow such as too much obsession with golf, biking, internet games, gadgets, pet dogs, fighting cocks, to name a few. For that matter, an unrestrained attachment to a car can level up to a home wrecker too.

It is easy to fall in love with a modern car with all its power, comforts and amenities. Just keeping it stock makes most car owners happy. Still, there are those who would not be satisfied with anything stock and would start modifying their new car as early as the first day they owned it. Working on a modern car is easy. There are available after market body kits, parts, accessories, audio and engine set-ups everywhere and you can transform your car to suit your taste practically within a day. 

It’s the other way around when you get into the task of rebuilding an old school car like a Beetle. You can get bogged down chasing genuine parts and accessories. But your small successes with an old car can give you a higher level of satisfaction. For me, it is that and more. It is like a déjà vu on the car I had in the past that I did not have the time and resources to give proper care and attention to. This time around, I am making up for something I was not able to do before. I can now do wonderful things to the car that I never thought possible then.

Recently, however, a prospective buyer expressed much interest in the car. He was assuring me rather profusely that he would take care of it like how I have been doing. The guy used to live in Manila but he had recently moved to Mindanao. And he would like to make Zamboanga the car’s new home. As shipping costs would be prohibitive, he was thinking of driving the car all the way from Manila to Zamboanga by RORO (roll on roll off) route. The trip would take seven days and cover thousands of kilometers of driving overland and sailing on board ships over deep waters and high seas. Although it has not left my garage farther than 10 kilometers away in the last 7 years, I thought the car can be good for a long trip given a thorough engine tune up. 

What I was concerned about was whether the buyer would be able to find someone willing to drive a Beetle on a cross country trip. He was to send a representative to cut the deal. I already had my reservations at that point in time. To my relief, the representative did not come on the date he said he would. Probably the guy had realized or was prevailed upon by saner minds that a RORO trip would be an unspeakable ordeal for both the driver and the car.

A stock Beetle cannot match the riding comfort, handling convenience, or interior amenities of a modern car but given some tweaking it can be as comfortable if not better. It bears so much history that an owner can take pride of. The Beetle had its heyday until the 60s and the 70s. It was the vehicle of choice of most people. More than 21 million Beetles were manufactured over the period from 1945 to 1974, more than any car model at the time it stopped production. It was the perfect car for the counter culture and free spirit of the sixties. Bugs were a delight to see in bright, plain or two-tone paint, flowery or psychedelic colors and various body styles – stock, California look, Baja, streeter, modified, full race, etc. One memorable icon of the sixties was a Beetle with a body constructed out of wrought iron. Back in the day, a dear departed friend had a violet colored 1965 model Beetle which he drove around with attitude of a rock star. Seeing some bugs cruisin’ the road these days brings back nostalgia of the romantic past when Beetles crowded the roads and highways.

My first car was a 1969 VW Beetle which I acquired in the mid 80s. It was about 15 years old at the time, a very young age for a woman but too old for a car. But the car was designed to last true to the reputation of anything made in Germany. When I saw it for the first time, it looked radiant in passion orange but at close look, the paint had seen better time. I bought it on the spot. My brother saw it and he was likewise inspired to buy his own bug. It was my daily driver and except for a couple of times it conked out without warning (due to electrical problem), it brought us to places we normally go to and was generally reliable. 

I did let go of that Beetle after a couple of years to a colleague and acquired the 1302 Beetle of a friend’s brother. That colleague and I were both vying to buy the 1302. I offered to him my car at a lower price so that I would be the one to bid on the 1302 and he gave way. The 1302 was the progenitor of the Super Beetle (the 1303), the model to die for during its time. I grabbed the opportunity of owning the second best model. With a “new” second-hand Beetle, life and career got more exciting even in the drudgery of a 9-5 office routine. I drove the 1302 daily to work and elsewhere. We had a lot on interesting times together. It was a mute participant during the tumult of the people power demonstrations I actively took part of during the 80s. It was the official protest vehicle of our group. It shuttled up to 6 people during our sorties to the rally sites in Ayala Avenue and Edsa. I vividly recall how we set our foot on the threshold of history when we joined the motley crowd at Camp Crame gate in Edsa the night JPE and FVR declared their revolt from the Marcos regime.

As global warming got severe, I traded the 1302 with the air-conditioned car of my brother, a Dodge Colt, which he was about to dispose. The 1302 was subsequently sold to another Beetle enthusiast. I drove a non-Beetle for some time. Some years later, I heard that the Beetle of the father-in-law of a friend was going to be junked. Such a tragic end for a Beetle hit a soft spot in me. I could not stand that a Beetle could just be cut up and fed to a metal foundry to be transformed to a few steel bars. I decided to buy the car and started a project of converting it to a Baja bug. Working on it during my free time and with the help of a backyard body repair man, the project Baja bug took form slowly and painstakingly. The Baja bug was a looker even as it was not completely done yet. A friend took interest and bought it. Although I lost some money in the deal, I felt better that the car would be leading a useful life with its new owner.  After that, I did not think that I would own a Beetle again.

Many years and several cars later (one Daewoo, one Honda, a Toyota and two Mistubishis), my interest on VWs was somehow rekindled. Sometime in 2007, I wandered into a bug-in, a car show exclusively for VWs, at the Fort Bonifacio Marines parade grounds. I was awed by the biggest display of VWs I ever saw in various levels of rebuild, mainly Beetles, Buses (Kombis), Karman Ghias, Fastbacks, Notchbacks, Brazilias, Things, and even a few Porches, most of them restored to mint condition as if they just moved out of the assembly line. I spent hours just strolling around and admiring the cars. 

That urged me to start a hunting expedition for a Beetle that I can rebuild myself. My first prospect was a bug eye model (similar to Herbie in the film the Love Bug) that I went to see at Filinvest Subdivision in Quezon City but the seller’s asking price was out of my range. Undaunted, I kept on looking and found one near Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City and immediately haggled with the owner to purchase it. As fate would have it, it was the same model as my first Beetle, a 1969 made in Germany model, but it was in bad shape. After money changed hands, I drove it out on the road and soon realized the extent of the work to be done on the car.

I did not have guts to drive it home, not only because the brakes were faulty, but also because I did not inform my wife that I was buying a Beetle. So like a secret mistress I “hid” it first to the car shop of a friend and left it there for a few days.  When I finally got it home, I started a part-by-part rebuild of the car in my garage sourcing good surplus parts from vendors during car shows sponsored by different VW clubs every so often. The rest of the parts were bought from VW auto parts stores along Araneta Avenue, Quezon City (EGT and Ayala). I was hoarding  parts that I had no need for yet. I also collected dozens of Hot VWs & Dune Buggies magazines which gave me ideas on how to improve a VW, what are the period correct style and parts and accessories for different car models, and also some technical know-how. I learned too that any VW parts can be ordered from the US through the internet.

One of the first things that I rushed to do was to have the car repainted from white to passion orange, the same color as my first Beetle. I had the faulty front drum brakes replaced with a set of disc brakes. I retained the car body’s classic look with mild modifications like shaved body trimmings and front fender signal lights. I got rid of the ill-fitting front seats (from a Japanese car) installed by the previous owner and sourced a pair of original VW seats, replaced the cheap Momo steering wheel with an original VW steering wheel. I went for a more modern mechanical set up. I had the front and rear suspension lowered to fit the car with a set of Porche-style 7x17 wheels and low profile radial tires, the interiors reupholstered with original-design and materials, the suspension restored, the electricals rewired, and the engine tuned up.  All the works needed were done cost no object.

It was not a hassle-free undertaking though. With countless weekends, holidays, days and nights spent on the car, it has been very tiring work. I had a lot of frustrations and got into quarrels some times, first with a no-good car painter and then with some mechanics who not only did lousy repair jobs and but also charged me also for parts they did not replace. Not to mention, bruised knuckles, back pains, and stress from rare auto parts chase. Yet fatigue would soon be soothed every time I rest to look at the car and admire what I was able to do. I would get inside the car and sit quietly and still and my joy would be complete. The ultimate satisfaction comes when I drive the car out and people crane their neck to look at it and when admiration is spontaneously expressed by total strangers with a thumbs up sign.

Everything said and done, I realize that if I were to let this bug go now, I would not be able to resist a situation when I had to rescue another abandoned bug and begin a restoration project anew. I am also not sure if the person who would buy the car could take care of it like I do even if he would be willing to swear by his honor that he would not let it end up in a steel foundry. I thought that it would be better for the car to stay with the family to be bequeathed to a family member who can take care of it and preserve it as a family heirloom and, possibly, start a tradition of passing that responsibility from generation to generation. 

Free Parking for Senior Citizens in Quezon City? Not Exactly Free at Trinoma

By and large, it seems that the senior citizen law has been more observed in compliance rather than in breach. This is not to say, however, that the whole picture looks good as there are still many deviations that go unnoticed ranging from outright defiance to creative avoidance of the law. The gray generation is not the most fightingest among the marginal groups of society and if those concerned would not complain vigorously enough, unscrupulous establishments would be more comfortable ignoring the law.

Except for the celebrated complaint of Atty. Romy Macalintal which was played up by the media fairly well, most seniors would not go beyond mouthing a verbal protest and actually put their words into action when confronted with some violation of their privileges under the senior citizens law. On the other hand, there are establishments that will deviate from the law when they can get away with it. They are not worried about or threatened with repercussions because people are generally not serious about filing a complaint and much more pursuing a case. The precedents are few and far between.  

Deviations in implementation can be done easily whenever benefits are extended to specific class or group of people through legislation especially when eligibility is subject to proof and not visually discernible, such as age.

The law took a long time to happen. Coming to age 60 used to be, and for some even up to now, dreaded, denied and kept secret, by women and men alike, not only for reason of vanity but also because at that age, a person is perceived, rather unfairly, to have lost capability and productivity. For that matter, it is the retirement age (in the Philippines) and subsequently, he is forced to retire. Retirement benefits, on the other hand, are subject to relentless dilution by employers determined to cut costs and improve their bottom line. The notion of retirees living off their retirement benefits for the rest of their life is just a mere illusion.

 

When the senior citizens law or RA 9944 was enacted, senior citizens gained a certain degree of respect, importance and, maybe, some level of security. Now there are some reasons to acknowledge, if not anticipate, being 60 if only to enjoy rights and privileges under the said law.

Some local government units have even gone beyond the benefits provided for under the senior citizens law. A good example is Quezon City which enacted on July 24, 2012 an ordinance granting free parking to Quezon City senior citizens in all QC establishments. A very laudable move considering the prevailing high cost of parking in urban centers.

The motherhood statement is “to establish the mechanism to maximize the benefits and welfare of senior citizens residing in Quezon City” and “to encourage commercial and business establishments in Quezon City to include as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility the support for senior citizens in their leisure and mobility pursuits”.

The fact is, not all establishments have been taking their corporate social responsibility to heart even with the urging of a law or ordinance even if, as in this case, the parking fees they do not collect from senior citizens are tax deductible.

One giant Quezon City establishment, Trinoma, seems to be dragging its feet in implementing the free parking of seniors with some forms of creative circumvention of the ordinance.

On many occasions, the establishment has refused to grant free parking privilege to senior citizens under dubious circumstances such as, when they allegedly run out of Trinoma’s own senior citizen parking cards, and when parking time exceeds four hours for which they charge senior citizens the full parking fee.

To avail of free parking privilege under the QC ordinance, Trinoma requires senior citizens to present to the car park security personnel upon entry to the Trinoma’s multi-level parking buildings their OSCA-issued Senior Citizen ID. Should a senior citizen fail to observe that procedure, the Senior Citizen ID would not be honored by the car park exit teller and the senior citizen would be required to pay the regular parking fee.

Aside from presenting his OSCA-issued ID, a senior citizen must secure Trinoma’s own Senior Parking Card from the security personnel manning the parking entrance and a machine-issued parking card. When the parking personnel had run out of Trinoma’s limited Senior Parking Cards, they would refuse to honor the senior citizen’s ID.

Putting their own house rules over and above the law, Trinoma appears to be circumventing the ordinance to avoid granting senior citizens free parking.

Is Trinoma exempted from the city ordinance?

Actually, the Quezon City ordinance provides for the exclusion of establishments under Rule III, Section 7 of the implementing rules and regulations (as amended) specifically for those using automated ticket machines and automatic card dispensers. But this is subject to the condition that they allocate a minimum of fifteen free parking slots, per level and per building for senior citizens which must also be located near, adjacent or visible from the point of entrance or ticket/card dispensing machine.

Since Trinoma does not have free parking slots for senior citizens located near, adjacent or visible from the point of entrance or ticket/card dispensing machine, the establishment is not exempt from the ordinance.

Another requirement that Trinoma must comply with to qualify for exemption is the provision of number of 15 designated senior citizen parking slots based on reflective signages with a 12" x 18" with green background with white text.

Further, the ordinance exempts all senior citizens of Quezon City from payment of initial rate of  parking fees for the first three hours. The initial rate is tantamount to the minimum rate of parking fees. In the case of Trinoma, the parking fee in the parking building is a flat rate of P50 regardless of number of hours. Hence, P50 is also the minimum rate. Then the applicable initial rate referred to by the ordinance for which the senior citizen is exempt from paying should be P50. Trinoma, however, charges senior citizens P50 when their parking time exceeded four hours. Now, under what basis are they requiring senior citizens to pay P50 when they exceed parking time of four hours? If the parking fees are not tiered based on number of hours, Trinoma seems to be violating the Quezon City ordinance by collecting P50 from senior citizens when their parking time exceeded four hours. At the very least, the value of of the parking fee for three hours should be discounted.

Let it be said that we have repeatedly brought to the attention of Trinoma’s parking personnel our reservations on their implementation of the ordinance. Our protestations, however, have always fallen on deaf ears.

Maybe the sanctions for violation of the ordinance are not enough deterrent. If committed by the cashier or boot attendant, violation carries penalties of imprisonment of 1-30 days or fine of P500 or both depending on the discretion of the court. If committed by the operator, manager or owner of the parking space, the penalties are imprisonment of 1-30 days or fine of P2,000 or both depending on the discretion of the court. 

What does the big picture on this matter show: when big establishments launch their business, they offer a lot of come-ons such as, free parking, low prices, etc., to attract people to come. Customers are welcome with open arms. When business had grown big and hugely profitable, they would start to jack up prices, charge parking fees, and even withhold the paltry entitlement of some people under the law. If that is not insatiable corporate greed, nobody knows what is. That’s how big business screws its own customers.

Alleviating Hunger Small by Small

Who would not want to start something with a big bang? Nowadays, it is the launching strategy that seems to be popular in any undertaking.  In modern warfare, it means that you must stun and awe the enemy with loud and overwhelming force to ensure a quick win. In business, an enterprise is launched with lots of luxury, hoopla and media coverage to intimidate the competition. When a new product is launched, celebrities and movie stars are usually engaged to endorse it in a big budget product presentation to create an impact on the market.  After all, the universe was created in a big bang. 

However, we know that any enterprise must be sustainable for it to grow and last for some time. If the expectations created during its launching were not met during the day-to-day life of the enterprise, then the big bang may end with a whimper.   

In fact, many ventures launched with a big bang failed and more startups which took off with simple soft launching succeeded. There is no guarantee that a high profile take off of an undertaking will fill the cash register or attract a large following. 

For that matter, a lofty social project need not involve grand media presentation to gain wide support. Such daunting mission as a feeding program will not immediately fly high even with a grand take off. Admittedly, the negative perception of such a project and the large resources needed to sustain it can discourage even the most dedicated. No single effort or single fund can fulfill this mission. It has to be a synergy among different sectors. Not doing anything on this problem, however, is like living a life for oneself alone.  A life without sharing is a life without contentment. No effort is too small for such a mission although it may only create a small impact on the big picture.

Nurturing initiatives over time so that they can start viral support is what it is all about, or what we may call, pardon the flawed expression, small by small strategy.

The Rotary Club of Diliman adheres to the belief that any initiative, no matter how small, can start a bandwagon by remaining steadfast, sustaining the initiative, word of mouth promotion, management of its own capability, linkages with institutions, individuals and other clubs with resources, nurturing its achievements, and letting initial  successes infect others to create an epidemic of support.

The Rotary Club of Diliman determined that a feeding program for malnourished school children is a good way to start a crusade against hunger. The project was soft launched by the Rotary Club Diliman chapter at Bago Bantay Elementary School, a public school in Quezon City, under the leadership of Club President Jeri Orlina and the service project committee of Lew Edwards. Club members take turns in serving in the project. Among the students of the school are children from the poorest of the poor families in the area.

The project was branded Busog Lusog Talino (BLT) feeding project and initially covers 40 children.  The project moniker simply means that children should be well-fed to be healthy and intelligent. Mens sana in corpore sano, so to speak. 

Upon proper profiling, 40 school children identified to be “severely wasted” in nutritional term and were selected for the feeding program.

Among them are cousins Jazmine and Mika (not their real names) who were children of families dwelling under the Culiat bridge, one of the high risk areas in Quezon City, particularly during typhoons and floods.

When typhoon Mario struck Metro Manila, the dwellings of Jazmine and Mika’s families under the bridge were flooded. No one would have survived the high water and strong current under that bridge if they had remained there. When Jazmine did not show up in her classes for eight days after the typhoon, Lew Edwards feared that something happened to her. Later, he learned that they had evacuated to safer grounds during the typhoon. She managed to get back to school after a long absence. 

Lew’s inquiry also disclosed that the reason why she was not regularly going to school was that she had been accompanying her father at night rummaging garbage dumps for recyclable materials (or kalakal, a newly-coined Tagalog term) that they can sell to junkyards. She was also selling sampaguita flowers to motorists at traffic stops and road intersections allegedly upon instruction of her mother to augment their family income. Stories of children under the same circumstances are common and too many to be ignored.

Although the project did not start with a big bang, word of mouth started to attract participation from as far as Schurr High School in Los Angeles California which donated P34,718.07 (peso equivalent of their US$ donation).  Members of Rotary Club of Diliman were immediately convinced and shelled out contributions for the project in various amounts up to as high as the P10,000.00 from past President Elmer Magnate. The needed kitchen equipment and cooking wares were readily bankrolled by some Rotary members without hesitation. One example of effective linkaging with other institutions resulted in the participation of the Red Cross to this project through Rotary’s Past District Governor, Hermy Jarin. Red Cross has pledged to provide kits for the 134 children containing blankets, towels, toiletries, etc.

Although this project so far may not have the makings of a big bang, the real big bang is happening in the hearts of people who have readily committed to support this project. The ultimate objective, of course, is for the initiative to be replicated by others in as many areas of the country.

Macroscoping the Traffic Problem

Nobody has a monopoly of wisdom on the traffic problem of Metro Manila. Anyone who claims that he can solve the problem is most likely out of his mind, a drunk, a wannabe Tuesday morning quarterback, or a re-electionist politician.

It’s good enough that every Juan has a 10 cents’ worth of opinion on the problem. It goes to show that people acknowledge and own this problem, understand a bit of the problem and have some ideas on the solution it entails.

Knee-jerk Reactions and Band-aid Solutions

Just as traffic prevents us from getting to where we want to go at the time we need to be there, the current efforts to solve the problem will not get us anywhere near the end of the problem. Not in the near future. The problem will get worse before it gets better. This is for as long as we lose sight of the forest for the trees.  The current efforts focus on the micro side of the issue, that is, day-to-day traffic management, but miss the big picture. What we get are only knee-jerk reactions and band-aid solutions.  This is a classic case of attempting to solve a problem that begs a long term solution with short-term fixes.

Too Much Vehicles and Not Enough Roads

At the risk of being accused of trivializing the issue, we have to restate that our traffic woes are essentially brought about by “too much vehicles and not enough roads”. This brings us to a point that a Grade 4 student can easily understand. Our options are: control the trips of vehicles or build more roads and/or mass transport systems.

Reduce Vehicles or Build Mass Transport Systems

Controlling the trips of vehicles or reducing vehicles plying the streets through number coding and truck ban have been tried in a variety of forms but hardly improved the situation. Rather than solve the problem, this approach creates more problems. 

Number coding merely increased car sales as more people bought a second car that they can use on days they cannot use their first car and on other days (not covered by its own number coding) as well. Thus, the number coding system actually multiplied the volume of vehicles on the roads and did not improve traffic at all.

On the other hand, the truck ban is equally an ill-conceived solution. Banning from the streets trucks that haul goods in and out of the country is counter-productive and adversely impacts the economy. Instead of giving priority to the sectors that drive up economic growth, their right and freedom to use the roads, built from taxes we all pay, are being restricted congesting the ports and delaying the movement of cargoes (including domestic goods and exports and imports). As if adding insult to injury, the current proposal is to allow trucks in the streets during unholy hours of the day only (e.g. 12MN to 4AM). Are we not shooting ourselves in the foot?

That the local governments have joined the fray did not help at all as it opened the floodgates of parochial concerns side by side with national interests.  The LGUs are understood to be beholden to adopt populist policies that cater to the convenience of their constituents which favor the reduction of the volume of vehicles plying their turf.  Now, politicians have further muddled the situation.  

Who Should be Blamed for the Traffic Mess

By the way, who are most responsible for clogging the roads?  A debate on this question at the wrong place can spark a riot. Here’s an overview of what’s going on.

Private vehicles, which is a beneficiary of the truck ban, consist the highest number of road users (about 240,000 vehicles on a given day in EDSA) carrying mostly a single person. Private vehicles are now the target of a new proposal to ban them in EDSA and herd them to the side streets from 6-9AM. Another variant of band-aid solutions that will not really work.

People do not drive to go somewhere because they have a car but because they have no alternative. Driving own car is very heavy on the pocketbook at today’s gas prices and snail-paced traffic. If there’s an adequate and reliable mass transport system, car owners would rather keep their cars in the garage or in a park-and-ride facility and take the train or a bus. As it is right now, we do not see that happening because the lines of commuters waiting for a ride in MRT major stations during rush hours are more than a kilometer long single file.

 

Public utility buses take the blame for causing the worst accidents and traffic log jams. There are about 14,000 buses only in EDSA. The problem with buses is that they stop at will to pick up and unload passengers in any part of the road: left, right or even center.  When they do pull over at bus stops, they hug the space for as long as they want, rear protruding out, stalling and blocking other buses to wait for passengers. They vie for less passengers now, hence, the competition among buses has become so stiff and cut-throat, thanks also to the boundary system that still persists to this day. When buses got involved in an accident, the enormous gridlock could affect the whole metropolis. Although the problems they cause may be real, they cannot be solved by banning buses from the roads. The players can all use discipline here: operators, drivers, traffic enforcers, passengers.

The jeepney remains as a picturesque icon of the Filipino culture and ingenuity. As public utility vehicles, however, jeepneys have become more of a nuisance and have been blamed for the traffic woes on the roads when driven by undisciplined drivers. Sturdy as they are, jeepneys swerve and snake in all lanes of the roads to compete for passengers and oftentimes cause accidents and traffic gridlocks. Jeepney drivers are some of the most reckless drivers on the road because they can do that and get away with it. The lax enforcement of traffic regulations can be the real culprit here. Filipino drivers drive properly in places where traffic enforcement is known to be strict.        

The lumbering trucks/haulers which carry cargoes to and from the ports are the favorite whipping boys and escape goats on traffic problems. Maybe because they are big and highly visible and occupy more road space and move slower. It’s actually a catch 22 situation, they are damned when they move slow but moving fast they can cause accidents. So many incidents involving container van falling off their trailer have been recorded. Whenever a hauler gets into an accident or suffer breakdown, traffic would stand still for hours on end throughout the metropolis.

The other culprits: tricycles, pedicabs, motorcycles, kuligligs, and other Filipino inventions, are like mosquitoes in your bedroom. They are everywhere and you cannot drive them out: in highways, main roads, major city streets, or where they should not be, posing risks for accident and causing traffic slowdown. They do frustrating things with impunity such as, going counter flow, hugging the speed lanes, passing at your blind side, particularly when traffic is heavy. The scenario portrays the kind of anarchy and lawlessness obtaining in our streets.

Recycled Solutions

The authorities have tried so many strategies, including color coding, number coding, truck ban, elimination of rotundas, restoration of rotundas through U-turn slots, one-way traffic routes, alternating push-pull traffic flow, river transport, etc. The current efforts are not new but just variants of previously tried and failed attempts to solve the problem.

Real Solutions

No matter how valiant the current efforts are, they are bound to fail because the real solutions are infrastructure-based and are not being given priority: efficient and reliable mass transport system, new circumferential and by-pass roads, skyways, subways, no-nonsense road maintenance, waterways and drainage cleanup, flood prevention, and (pardon me for including this) outward economic development policies which can encourage reverse migration to the provinces.

To begin with, an adequate and reliable mass transport system can substantially ease traffic flow even before new roads are built. The dream is for the time to come when private motorists would voluntarily decide to take the train instead of using their cars because it would be more convenient, faster and reliable, not to mention the big gas money they would save.

  

Back to Square One

Building more infrastructures has been in the government’s agenda but has progressed very poorly beyond the lip service of government leaders. Hence, the solution could not catch up with the problem. The problem has already morphed to a bigger monster, when the solution arrives. The desired reliable mass transport system (e.g. light rail train) adequate to service the current volume of commuters as well as encourage people driving their car to work, school and elsewhere to take the train instead has remained a wistful dream. Not only has the traffic problem gotten worse faster than the infrastructures could be built, the existing light rail trains have become unreliable due to maintenance neglect. And then we hear that this is so because they have become obsolete and need to be totally replaced. What does that make of our situation? Back to square one!                                                                        
     

The Root of the Problem

The root of the traffic problem is presidential. Under our system, there is no blueprint and continuity for long term government projects, particularly on infrastructure development, that an incoming president must implement when he takes over. Unlike in the parliamentary system of government where bureaucracy continues to function as leaders come and go, our system is largely dependent on the agenda of the sitting president. Under the current administration, infrastructures sprung to a full stop when the president assumed office. Even as the six-year term of a president is not enough to totally bridge the gap in infrastructures, the current president did not hit the ground running when the starting gun sounded. His first couple of years were devoted to hedging, blaming the past and discontinuing projects already in the pipeline. Lesson learned is that cramming on infrastructures towards the end of the administration is really bad timing as a president’s popularity traditionally plummets near the end of his term. Needless to mention that long term projects cannot be completed within two years. Not only that. He is going to be busy not only in warding off attempts to show him as a lame duck but also in playing his part in the political efforts to ensure that his candidate succeeds him. Or to find a way to extend his term.

Commercialization of Public Parks

Are public parks in Quezon City becoming too commercialized? Nowadays, you can’t go to a park with just loose change in your pocket and, don’t look now, there’s an imminent possibility that government properties and possibly some public parks we used to roam around freely will be up for bidding among the giant mall owners and real estate developers already entrenched there.

The Veterans Memorial Hospital and Golf Course and other government properties such as the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, Manila Seedling Bank, military camps, and other prime properties around the rapidly expanding business district of Quezon City may soon be on the auction block. Public parks may suffer the same fate.

The concept of public parks that are accessible to all (the poor included) has been eroded by too much fees and costs the promenaders have to shell out just to enjoy a piece of natural and open space in the polluted and congested city. Gone are the days of my childhood when simple folks can go to a QC park, bring food and have a picnic under a tree or in the grass and enjoy an inexpensive family day. As a child, we used to do that in Balara and La Mesa watershed parks. Not anymore. QC parks are now charging a fee for practically everything you want to do inside the park starting with a parking fee and rentals of space (in case your group wants to do aerobics or zumba, team building, group meeting, or simply have fun games).

The Quezon Memorial Circle, resting place of a great president and to whom the city was named after, seems no longer as hospitable as it should be and actually not a cheaper place to go to compared with the nearby giant malls where people prefer to go to now if they don’t have money. Why, much of the park have been leased to expensive restaurants and fast foods deterring people from bringing food there and picnicking under a tree.

Indeed, commercialization of nearly everything has conditioned people to accept that nothing in this world is free and has induced the masses to adapt to a lifestyle of headless consumerism. That you have to charge and spend in order to have fun in the Philippines. The old adage that the best things in life are free no longer holds true. The QMC would rather cater to big events of civic, religious and corporate groups that rake in huge funds purportedly for its further development (read commercialization).

Sadly, people subliminally takes pride of the visible progress around and may actually believe it improves their lot. But the sad truth is none of this will trickle down more money in their pocket.

Just to prove the point, on September 20, a group of masscom students went to Quezon Memorial Circle to shoot a short film armed with a borrowed handycam, themselves acting the characters in the screenplay they crafted. The project is an academic requirement in one of their subjects. They selected the Quezon Memorial Circle as an ideal site for their film with the thought that President Quezon’s spirit would be with them since the film they intend to make would be about heroes who founded our nation.

While they were preparing to shoot, their youthful enthusiasm and excitement were soon dashed when they were accosted by the security guard who told them that they cannot take videos around the park and that they need to go to the administration office, if they want to try to get permission. Young and idealistic as they are, they did not let such restriction (read censorship) pass without a whimper protesting as they did to the security guard that they are just students and they need to make the film for academic purposes. No dice. Go to admin. Secure permission. As parrot-like as saying “no ID, no entry”.

And so they went to the admin office and they got to talk to the secretary of the admin OIC regarding their situation. The students were told that they have to pay P500 to be permitted to take video shots within the park. The conversation went like this:

Students: Why do we need to pay P500? Isn’t the park a public property?

Secretary: For cleaning the park.

Students: But it’s dirty. Is the City government not providing funds for the maintenance of the park?

Secretary: Yes, but we need additional funds.

Students: Including a fee for those who would like to take simple videos and selfies? 

Secretary: Photos and selfies taken through cellphones are allowed. But no photos and videos from a handycam. We do not want videos of the park posted in the social network.

Students: What's the difference? Why not?

Secretary: The admin head does not want it.

Students: No exemption for students?

Secretary: You have to talk to the admin OIC.

Students: Can we talk to him?

Secretary: He is asleep. You have to wait for him to wake up.

The students begrudgingly pooled their allowances and handed the secretary the P500 fee she demanded on the condition that they would appeal later to the admin OIC for exemption.

The students left and came back to the admin office just as the OIC woke up at around 4:30 PM, the students again asked for exemption from paying the P500 fee elaborating the same arguments they gave to the guard and the admin secretary.

The admin OIC obviously did not like the audacity of the students or he must have woken up in the wrong side of his desk that he adamantly refused to accommodate them. The students reminded him that Quezon Memorial Park brochure endeavours to promote the park as a shrine of a great president and repository of the country’s historical and cultural heritage. As such, it should be student-friendly. The QMC website also describes the park as a place for recreation and a lot of fun things to do. 

However, the unabashed commercialization of park administration takes away the fun in going there. Their concern for video footages being uploaded in the social media does not make sense. Except if they are trying to avoid more people seeing the poor maintenance and filthy surroundings inside the park which should have been taken care of by the fees they collect from visitors.  Or it may be just a ruse for them to collect more fees from photograph and camera-crazed Filipinos.

The admin OIC sorely lost the argument against the young students, he got piqued and walked out on them. When he heard the comment of one that it was so rude of him to turn his back on them while they were still talking, he walked back and brusquely returned the P500 fee they collected and gave the impression that they could proceed to shoot in the park without paying. When the students tried to do so, the security guard again prevented them reportedly upon the instruction of the admin OIC. If this is not the height of depravity, who knows what is.    

The encounter these students experienced with the Quezon Memorial Circle admin OIC (read little tyrant) clearly reflects where this country has gone to. President Quezon must be churning in his grave with guys like them around his resting place.