Hmmm… now I’m confused. Do I side with the jeepney driver? Or do I side with the Congressman’s son? Tough decision considering both types of people aren’t really in my top ten sorts of people to sympathize with. But here’s the context behind this personal dilemma of mine…
A cellphone video earlier showed [King George Leandro Antonio] Collantes [son of Batangas 3rd District Rep. Nelson “Sonny” Collantes] confronting [jeepney driver Orlando] Garcia in the middle of San Rafael Street in Barangay Kapitolyo for refusing to let Collantes’ Nissan Patrol pass.
At one point, Garcia hit Collantes’ cellphone, causing it to fall on the ground. The congressman’s son then punched the jeepney driver twice before he was stopped.
Garcia said the punches caused his left eyelid to start bleeding. He also accused the congressman’s son of threatening to shoot him.
Garcia said Collantes is threatening to sue him for grave threat and damage to property for the damage to his cellphone.
Lol! Well, let’s shove the popcorn into the microwave and sit back for the show.
Before we get all worked up about how the “evil” Congressman’s son victimized the token poor old jeepney driver who is struggling to make ends meet for his family of (most likely) eight kids, let’s all ask ourselves first: How many of us at least once or twice over the last two days fantasized about putting a boot up a jeepney driver’s ass?
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Having harbored such fantasies in no way of course excuses punching a dashing driver of the King of the Road in the eye. But most of us who have spent the better part of our lives slogging through Manila’s infernal traffic can easily understand just the same where the “evil” Congressman’s son may have been coming from in this latest incident of road rage.
Then again my personal experience of seething as I dodged jeepneys and maneuvered around them as they load and disgorge passengers in the middle of Manila’s busy streets is only equaled by the sight of self-important politicians’ offspring in their daddy’s obnoxious SUVs muscling their way through traffic queues — often “counterflowing” onto oncoming traffic.
I say the MMDA should just impound both vehicles. Bigger loser would be the jeepney driver. If I were that guy, I would think twice about antagonizing anyone if I couldn’t afford even one day of not being able to ply my trade. For guys like Orlando Garcia, one day’s revenue probably spells the difference between having a good serving of adobo and settling for a bowl of pagpag.
For the Congressman’s son, on the other hand, it’s all about the broken cellphone. What a tough life, eh King George? Now you’ve got nothing to take your kingly selfies with, poor guy.
Now I’m worried. If these two bozos represent the sort of Filipino manhood us hapless chicks have to choose from, we’re pretty much effed. On one hand are poor sods who work their fingers to the bone and have nothing but a rustbucket of a vehicle welded together from galvanized sheets to show for all that. On the other are bratty village kids who strut around in big fancy penis size compensators without having delivered a day’s work worth a single pan de sal.
What a society. Next time someone calls on me to have a bit of “pride” in being “Pinoy” I might do the only Pinoy option available: punch that person in the face too.
Frustrated artist doing geek for a living.
Honestly, I don’t sympathize with the jeepney driver. I drive and travel around metro manila since I learned how to drive (professionally). Seriously I’ve encountered a lot of jeepney drivers and taxi drivers that I wanted to shot in the head. They drive as if they own the roads, they don’t care whether they are in the middle of the streets causing havoc and traffic, they pass by you and smirk especially if they see that its a lady driving the vehicle. And when I ride a public vehicle (taxi, jeepney or bus) I have encountered conversations drivers talking about private vehicles they want to irritate at some point for nothing and no reason at all. THEY JUST DON’T CARE, NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE… and when they get into trouble, sila pa ang mas madrama acting as if sila ang argabyado at kawawa when in the first place, they started it all. Its all about the cause and effect they do on the streets daily. Don’t get me wrong, I am not matapobre, hindi ako mayaman and I don’t drive a new and expensive vehicle but truth be told most of them are the ones causing vehicle related incidences on the streets.
Should it matter from which class the cause of accidents come from? To spare everyone from the cacophony that comes with finger pointing, let’s all stick to the rules and practice road courtesy. We’re all beating each other up while the real culprits are laughing at us from a distance with their troll faces. Traffic wouldn’t be this hellish in the Philippines if agencies like the LTO didn’t just give away licenses like they were free samples. You wouldn’t have gone through the traumatic driving of a bus driver who drives his bus like a broken roller coaster ride, bruising elderly women and tossing small children off their seats. You wouldn’t have gone through the experience of getting cut by a jeep and missing your green light just so he could park on an intersection to take in passengers.
No one is afraid to break the rules too because all it takes for a ticket to go away ranges from 50Php up. OR you could simply flash the nice officer that family picture of yours from 5 Christmases ago with Binay at the center. Jeepneys are immune because they give the traffic enforcers a bunch of twenties folded up inside windshield cloth; notice how they salute and smile at the MMDA officer at each passing. By doing that they can park their fat tin asses wherever they want. That OR traffic enforcers simply do not give a f**k about them because they don’t have a single cent to give. Then you have these annoying pedicabs or sidecars, like cockroaches! they feel that because they don’t run on a motor or because they’re poor they deserve the right to disregard traffic rules and act like they’re kings of the road! To clog the already small streets of municipalities, to park at corners, sidewalks, or apexes, to badger pedestrians and sexually harass women, to counter flow, to get in that space between you and the car in front.
On the road, be it the jeepney driver or the officer worker desperate to get to work on time, everyone feels like the victim therefor everyone feels they have the right to swerve, cut, beat the red, block the intersection, not wear a helmet, etc. Our failed systems of driver education and enforcement, our victim mentality and sense of entitlement have all led to this hellish situation we’re all stuck in.
I Agree 110%…
You couldn’t have said it better.. It’s just EAT or BE EATEN on the streets of Manila. It’s the reason why my Dirt Bike has logged 70,000 kms over a period of 3 years compared to my car which has ran only 50,000 over a span of 8 years. Admittedly, I get these fantasies about flying a big-ass helicopter (like the one in the movie SWORDFISH) and hooking up those pathetic jeepneys off the streets and dumping them in the middle of Manila Bay where they can never be retrieved AGAIN. Other smaller and tighter cities can live without jeepneys (take Hong Kong for example), I don’t see why the Philippines can’t. The government should already start a campaign to remove jeepneys off the streets. A well-thought-off transportation system with strict adherence to schedules is what is needed. IT will be difficult at first, but no impossible. It’s about time the government TAX these jeepneys to DISCOURAGE their use.
Did you know that to operate a jeepney here in Metro Manila, Jeepney drivers are required to have one garage for every one jeepney? How many jeepneys do you see parked/littered on the sidewalks in Manila, Guadalupe, Bangkal, Mandaluyong,Pasay, Taguig, Pasig,Paranaque, Laspinas, ETC!!! How do these so many jeepneys get clearance for their operating license?!?! Sabi nga ng GRP: the solutions are simple *STOMP*
Yeah, it’s a toss-up at first. But then if we step back far enough and see that this is really more a rule-of-law issue, then, yeah, it really doesnt matter who or what these people are.
Latest news: 6 Dead in Magallanes bus accident.
http://kickerdaily.com/bus-runs-over-waiting-commuters-in-edsa-6-killed-33-severely-hurt/
SEE WHAT I MEAN. Its about time we all come down on these lunatics or it could be us lying decapitated on the pavement. The victims were all just like ourselves, waiting for their bus to work every morning. Now they’re dead; due to the lack of screening, education, and enforcement by the systems in place, rusty jeepneys / buses and their lunatic drivers, mixed with a lot of tolerance.
The only thing I find irritating about Jeepney drivers is that they insist that there’s still room for one or two more passengers even though we’re all cramped in that back like a pack of sardines.
Not all Jeepney drivers are assholes on the road.
Well that’s my piece.
How many people can you fit in a Jeepney?
One more!
LOL
ROTFLMAO!
“Now I’m worried. If these two bozos represent the sort of Filipino manhood us hapless chicks have to choose from, we’re pretty much effed.”
“Next time someone calls on me to have a bit of “pride” in being “Pinoy” I might do the only Pinoy option available: punch that person in the face too.”
HAHAHAHA! That made me spit out my soft drink. Thank you Kate for this write up!
I was watching it on the news myself and I have to admit, I couldn’t think of two more deserving idiots going at each other.
Ha ha! Glad to know I made someone laugh out loud (for real) today! 🙂
both are arrogant.jeepney drivers are a bunch of undisciplined , ignorant, rude, temperamental (barumbado) in the pretense of making a living but disregarding the traffic rule and other road users..are they helping the economy?or worsening the use of fuel, traffic and pollution?
Hi Kate.
My personal fantasy involves driving a rustbucket jeepney into a brand spanking new SUV with congressman’s license tags.
Just a slight modification to your scenario… I prefer watching as a disinterested party as a jeepney does a job on a shiny SUV with congressman’s license place.. 😛
Ah, but doing things with your own hands is very satisfying. 😉 It’s cathartic.
Nice article Kate…you hit the nail right in the head.
The typical pinoy motorist….me first, I am more important than any of you. Look! I have a big SUV better than anybody (or I have a top of the line car) which you cannot afford.
The typical jeepney driver on the other hand, I am poor, just trying to make ends meet, to hell with the law, mabuti nga hindi ako nagnanakaw. Pakelam ko ba kung maperwisyo ang iba, bumili sila ng helicopter nila.
With these kinds of attitudes, anarchy on the streets. It all boils down to lack of self discipline and respect for other people.
It’s like when they taught others to drive, they just went: “Here’s how you make the car go forward. Here’s how you make it go backwards. Here’s how you steer. NOW you’re a driver.”
Just because you have a license doesn’t mean you know how to drive.
Specially in the Philippines!
LOL… i can relate to your conundrum. I long for the day i can again really say, “Proud to be Pinoy”.
Oh, I still am. Just can’t say it out loud… for now.
Wow, that’s really a hard choice, because from my encounters, Jeepney drivers are on my top 3 most hated people in the world (barkers taking the top spot and BIR clerks trailing). On the other hand you pretty much described an ass of a congressman’s son.
Great piece of writing – enjoyed reading it.
It’s shame doing thar to an LC70, btw…. the photo, I mean.
Kate, despite all these jeepneys and bus drivers are not the not in the top 3 of my most hated in metro streets. Motorcycle drivers (those driving 125cc n below flimsy bikes) are the ones I fear most. At least with jeepneys drivers, it’s just fender benders, paint scratches,frayed nerves most of the time. But with these small motorbikes (and they come at you in all directions), the same amount of force will likely cause a fatality… My point is – there’s something more frightening out there (lol)…
Well, considering I’m a car driver and not a motorcyclist, it’s comforting to know that in the event of a collision with a motorbike, it is likely that the person in the car will come out the winner. 😉
I hate both so I say take both of their respective licenses if proven guilty of violations.
The jeepney driver deserves this treatment from the congressman’s son. In the first place, why did he block the road and refuse the lawyer’s car to pass. Judging from his action, the jeepney driver has been doing this and it’s only now that he found his match. His being 65 years old is not an excuse for him to be an asshole on the road. Buti nga bugbog lang. Dapat pa dyan kinaladkad para makita ng ibang balasubas na jeepney driver.
Well Kate, I would think that there’s enough hate to spread to both of them equally. What I would really like to do, though, is to let them have at it with each other, then I would whoop the ass of whoever survives.
“…big fancy penis size compensators”…thank you for making me LOL hugely! 😀 *clap*clap*clap*
Out of the topic, but can’t help but say this….
“…big fancy penis size compensators”
I own one (i hope not as penis compensator). But at the end of the day, it all boils down to operating costs, i.e., diesel economy, heavier build = durable parts = less repair cost, resale value.
Not to mention, with the anarchy going on on the roads, I would rather get caught in a collision inside a “penis compensator” than inside a family sedan.
The Congressman son thinks, he is the King of the road. The jeepney driver, wants only to earn a living for his family. It is ironic, that in times of election. Poor people like the jeepney driver are put on pedestal. When the election is over. The Congressman and his family, put themselves on pedestal. Learn from this lesson; on the next election. Ask the Congressman; why his son behaved that way?
OH YEAH, that says it all, Ms. Kate! about why the young ladies of the Fils are swarming the internet to land a ‘Kano’ to get them out of that hell-hole country.
The first ticket out is always the one taken. I saw a guy that could not get laid in a ‘cat-house’ with a fist-full of $50 bills with a Filipina ‘hottie’ at CDO’s airport and just laughed my ass off. poor girl had to settle for this idiot who could never score this ‘hottie’ in the west no matter how much money he had. and yet there they were! a comedic site if ever one was!
the congressman’s son needs a good ass kicking.and the jeepney drivers? Well, after nearly being killed by 100’s of them I hate the batchelor bus drivers even more….
I had terrible encounters with jeepney drivers. The fact is garcia is not a public jeepney driver, he was driving in a private subdivision when he blocked the two way street, which makes it far damn worse. Being a fair observer, garcia has been alleging very lowly remarks. If he has a case, go ahead and file them. I am sick of his interviews soliciting sympathy. I want to know facts, i want to see what charges the collantes guy will file. Remember respect is earned not demanded just because you are old.
Wait, did you carefully watch the video? Who was collantes calling when garcia grabbed his phone and threw it on the ground? There is always a cause and effect. Would you bring a cellphone to beat a guy up? Just wondering.
i want to punch myself in the face with that kind of grammar.
Just another day in barriotic Metro Manila. Even in the big city, people still practice their barriotic ways.