The jeepney originally came into the public service for several clear reasons: (1) to address a post-war shortage of public mass transportation, (2) there was abundant raw material — surplus United States Army jeeps — for the product, and (3) Filipinos were not up to the task of rebuilding a systemised public transport infrastructure.
Fast forward to today and the situation had still not fundamentally changed. There still is (1) a shortage of public mass transportation, (2) raw material for cobbling together and operating the mediocre product remains abundant, and (3) Filipinos remains unable to step up to the task of building a systemised transport infrastructure.
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Then as it is now, the enterprising private sector steps in to fill the gap. The result is an ungovernable free-for-all morass of rickety vehicles clambering upon one another to scoop up their daily bread from the teeming human cesspool festering over the length of the sides of the roads of big Philippine cities.
Suffice to say, mass transport has become a virtually intractable social and political problem in the Philippines — a democracy held hostage by a people who have imprisoned themselves in a uniquely-Filipino form of wretchedness held together by its own populist rhetoric.
After the jeepney came into being, it became the Philippine cultural icon. But it made an entire society comfy in that notion — paralysed by complacency — and then left it pathetically wanting in what should have been the foremost imperative once the short-term need had been addressed — development of a long-term systemic solution to mass transportation. As such, the jeepney remains a Filipino cultural icon today — but remains so now for the wrong reasons. It has become a symbol of every catastrophic missed opportunity that blights virtually every chapter of Philippine history as an independent state.
The Senate trial court officiating the impeachment case of Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona is like the jeepney. It came into public service for several reasons: (1) to address a shortage of a sound vision for the Republic, (2) there was an abundant raw material: surplus politicians — many of them up for re-election — starved for media mileage, and (3) Filipinos were not up to the task of building a systematised criminal justice infrastructure.
Because removal of the Chief Justice from office was made out to be the urgent be-all-end-all singular prerequisite for the laying out of Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III’s “straight path” initiative, the Jeepney Court was cobbled together from various mutually-inconsistent notions of what this “political exercise” should be and rushed to production. Literally, the entire nation had been taken for a ride in the Jeepney Court and its tolerance for pwede-na-yan (“that’ll do”) patakarans (“guidelines”) ranging from underpinning its very existence on a sloppily-written and baseless complaint document, admission of evidence coming from shady illegal sources, and up to playing degree of “flexibility” and “liberality” by ear depending on where the wind of public opinion blows.
Because the rules, like much of the others upon which we presume to base our attempts to govern an ungovernable people, are all negotiable — mere recommendations — the outcome of all this is likely to be a national-scale negotiation among the very same fat cats over how much or how little the Filipino people will be given their cut of whatever the imagined end-benefit of this circus will be.
Right now, the only thing Filipinos stand to gain is the empty trophy of the Chief Justice’s head — as if such a trophy can fill the stomachs and fatten the bank accounts of the ordinary Filipino schmoes whose attention spans had so far been hijacked by this spectacle. The real prize — greater transparency and an improved ability to prosecute on the basis of what that transparency yields — remains nebulous at best; still a mere whimper of a “petition” for the 188+1 politicians to sign a waiver to open their dollar-denominated bank accounts to public scrutiny.
There is a clear lesson coming out of all this that is an obvious direction the government needs to take — starting, say, with a lesiglative agenda to reform bank secrecy laws — if it is really serious about making the plight of the Chief Justice an example for all public officials to behold in the coming months and years. Whether this lesson is taken onboard and applied remains to be seen.
Look no further than the jeepney to get a sense of what the prospects are for something like that to happen in Philippine society.
[Photo of jeepney courtesy Estoryahe.co.uk.]
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Dude, one day when you come home, I ought to introduce you to Ed Sarao. 😉
Hahaha. Meeting the Saraos and visiting their workshop is what made me a Get Realist.
Well, they’re a nice family whose business has suffered severe lows and with it taken the standard of the jeepeney.
Actually, I think the real problem was that they were too nice.
All i can say is thank god i am from a civilised country which has intellect in politics, independence in law, competition in business, and decent food.
At least the unreality show has provided amusing inputs for my book on banana republics.
Nice to have a country like yours, Jay. We want that kind of country too. Sadly, people like Peenoy have a different idea of paradise.
“After the jeepney came into being, it became the Philippine cultural icon. But it made an entire society comfy in that notion — paralysed by complacency — and then left it pathetically wanting in what should have been the foremost imperative once the short-term need had been addressed — development of a long-term systemic solution to mass transportation. As such, the jeepney remains a Filipino cultural icon today — but remains so now for the wrong reasons. It has become a symbol of every catastrophic missed opportunity that blights virtually every chapter of Philippine history as an independent state.”
—
Okay, I get it. A ingenious innovation, pero hindi na ini-tweak pa. So sad.
Strange. Bakit kaya bigla kong hinanap si Vincenzo dito? LOL
If it works, don’t change it.
A classic Filipino concept.
Some Chinoys also live with this concept, except they add the word “well” before the comma.
Walkout Sealed Corona’s Fate – Sen Estrada. “Para siyang nagbigti dahil sa walkout” HAHAHAHAHA! GRP is such a pathetic wasted movement.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/199971/walkout-sealed-corona%e2%80%99s-fate-says-sen-estrada
Looks like you didn’t watch today’s trial. The court has already accepted his explanation and apology. More importantly, they have moved on to more important issues. I suggest you do the same. Panis na yang alleged walkout na yan.
Ilda that walkout was the last nail in his coffin. Nangarap ka pa that they moved on.
And next week you’ll find out na PANIS NA ANG GRP. Ahsus, isang dekadang pinaglalaban ninyo ni Benign0 mauuwi sa wala.
Oh well pwede naman daw mag-artista si Corona mwahahahaha http://opinion.inquirer.net/29381/corona%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98moro-moro%E2%80%99-at-the-senate
Hey, Ms. There is no point pasting old articles from the yellow pages here because today’s proceedings already overshadows everything anti-Corona peeps said about Corona’s character. Hay naku. You know kahit na ma-convict pa si Corona, nasabi na nya lahat ng gusto nyang sabihin. At least meron syang closure. Eh kayo? Kala nyo ba gaganda na ang Pilipinas after his conviction? Think again.
Good luck na lang sa inyo ni PNoy. You guys deserve each other!
Saang ilalim ng bato ka nanggaling at luma na ata yang balita mo. 🙂
Sira na ang credibility mo since you’ve posted an Inquirer article, which is also biased.
Don’t tell me you just don’t want Corona to be convicted and you’re just TROLLING on us, right?
I grew up in the Province…as a young child. I enjoyed clambering on the sides and on the top of the Passenger Jeepney…It’s better than hiking for hours. I never thought, it was dangerous.
Our attentions are being diverted by Noynoy Aquino on these political shows. His mother, Cory Aquino, diverted our attewntions , also on these political shows…they were covering their incompetence, and mismanagement of our country…Plus, they have a hidden agenda to protect: their Hacienda Luisita, they swindled from us…
Once HL is completely redistributed (same time next year?) let’s see what the next shows will look like.
redistributed! haha
the next step is a SC reversal!
then maybe the gullible fools will wake up to theur stupidity
bayaran din… huwag kakalimutan kung magkano ang bayaran.
Corona and other supreme court justices have penned one number — price-per-hectare. Kris Aquino (on the record, she is the presidente’s sister) and other stockholders are asking for a lot more money pesos-per-hectare for the land.
Ilda and Benign0, I always read your article, It’s indeed an enlightenment to the Filipino people.
Thanks, dreamboy.