Traffic Thoughtfulness

A few years ago, back in the late 1990s, travelling along JP Rizal almost at 9pm, the car ran out of gas (blame it on the unreliable gas gauge). Since I was near the intersection, there were still some MMDA Traffic Enforcers stationed nearby. They came and checked what was going on. Now, instead of giving me a ticket and towing the car away, they got a guy who had a pedicab and asked him to get gas for the car! Of course, I had to pay for the gas, but that was the only charge! This was without prodding or the usual calling card talk! While waiting for the gas, the vacant enforcer and I got into talking, found out about their shifts (6am to 2pm, then 2pm to 10pm), and got talking about the car (this was the 1977 Celica, aka the Batman car). After keeping me company and gassing the car up, they sent me off my way, telling me to be careful.

More recently, last year, I was in a cab and we were negotiating the ramp from SLEX to the Sales bridge. Since this was night time rush hour, the harried MMDA Traffic Enforcer was gesturing all of us to go ahead. Unfortunately, the cab stalled (he couldn’t handle hanging properly), so the cab's engine died for a moment. While we were starting the car, the MMDA guy came up and shouted what the hell was going on. We said the car died, we're just trying to start it so we can go on our way. Again, without any prodding, the MMDA put a rock under the rear wheel so the cab wouldn't reverse accidentally, then waved the other cars out of the way. We got the cab started the next minute, then we went off our way again.

I'd like to add a little positivity this time, especially for the MMDA Enforcers who have been maligned too many times. At least this shows that surely, these examples are the norm and not the exceptions.

Dauphin's Doltish Discussion

In addition to defending his mother's actions, he also wants to flaunt his analysis:

Mikey said the criticisms that came Ms Arroyo’s way after declaring martial law in Maguindanao were typical of her opponents’ obsession to dwell on the negative aspect of every issue facing the administration.

He cited the case of the recent Pulse Asia survey, which claimed that eight out of 10 Filipinos would not vote for the administration-backed candidate.

``Why did they not present it as 20 percent of the Filipinos are still willing to vote for the administration-backed candidate? Apparently, they don’t want to present it that way because it would show that the administration-backed candidate is only two percent shy of Noynoy Aquino’s rating of 22 percent as per Ibon survey results,’’ said Arroyo. `` These people just want to vilify this administration in the furtherance of their political ambition.’’

Ok, why compare the Pulse Asia results versus the Ibon results? Classic apples and oranges... I guess the good thing of his mother running for Congress is him not running anymore, sheesh...

Liberal Line Limit

The Liberal Party of Noynoy Aquino put itself into a corner when they took in Ralph Recto (for Vilma Santos probably), with the ensuing backlash from Serge Osmena. Before this, Cesar Montano was fielded as Bohol's gubernatorial candidate. Now, Richard Gomez has been fielded and Noynoy is talking to Chiz Escudero to become his campaign manager.

I'd like to think I have a healthy dose of pragmatism when observing political horsedeals like these, but Noynoy is running on the wings of change. Although mlq3 has written about redemption for those Lakas-Kampi people as an option, I have yet to see Cesar Montano, Ralph Recto, and Richard Gomez express not only support for the Liberal Party cause, but also a mea culpa of sorts for serving the current dispensation.

I don't think we're asking for them to air the entire dirty laundry, but to express regret at serving this government and what they could have done, plus what they plan to do to rectify it, hopefully within the scope of the Liberal Party vision.

Unfortunately, my impression is that these former loyalists are just jumping ship because Noynoy's popular; there seems to be no effort to express remorse for what they have done or even alignment towards the party's goals.

I still want to believe. I still want to hope. Is our hope misplaced?

Confounding Conass

With all the talk of the failure of our representatives to represent us in the recently-held Conass vote, why does there seem to be a wide disconnect between what the survey says (disapproving Charter Change, promoting Reproductive Health, etc.) and what our representatives do (shove Con-ass down our throats)?

On the local level, do we actually know what our congressmen are doing in Congress? Do we really care how our representatives represent us in the national forum?

Or are we just waiting for what he does in his own district, which is to dole out goods & monies (which was actually sourced from my taxes, dammit!)? Are we willing to gloss over our inconsistencies over issues as long as he shows us the money? Are we that hard up that we don't care if he's selling our souls, just so he can shower us with a pittance of a donation, and then we also have to be thankful to him for giving back money (which he got from my taxes, whether income or VAT)??

And for us who feel getting shortchanged, does our number matter to these representatives? Or have most of us who used to feel outrage flown the coop? And for us who are left behind, doesn't it feel tiring that we exert outrage and be laughed at in our faces by these representatives?

Then when the protests come around, why are these actions then hijacked by other politicians and has-beens?

This is where around three months of my salary goes: the pot-holed streets, the crazy u-turn slots, the salaries and humongous allowances of these representatives. And when they can't get enough money, they ask for loans, which I also eventually have to pay, not them.

Not enough of my salary goes to the schools, good roads, government hospitals, or the arts.

But the thing is, how can we get involved with our souls being kept intact? How can we change the system if the system doesn't listen and is too arrogant to listen to us?

Manny Musing

Not that I don't believe in Manny Pacquiao's talents, but the whole dance gets tiring after a while. Manny fights, he wins, the congressmen get to watch him in Vegas. We cheer for Manny, we boo the congressmen, the congressmen don't care, then we go back to our lives.

I'm just going to wait for the online feeds which will show the round by round account; the feeds come in hours before the first round would be televised.

Disheartening Declaration

It's terribly disheartening to see that Ricky Carandang, who isn't exactly a powerless participant in this republic, is also losing hope in this republic of bananas.

If he feels helpless about the whole seemingly endless downward spiral from his relatively advantageous perspective, what more the less vocal and less influential middle class, and especially the great mass of Filipinos?

Insistent Initial Impressions due to Investigations

When the news of Ted Failon's wife's incident broke out (before and upon her death), I relied primarily on internet news, since I don't watch primetime local network news anymore (ANC doesn't count and even then I watch that rarely).

So when the news trickled in through the internet that there were inconsistencies in the story, I then formed a hypothesis that it might not have been a suicide, but I'm not sure really whodunit.

However, upon reading the news today that Quezon City's finest has been extraordinarily pressuring the Etongs and the Archetes, and hearing the news not only (expectedly) from ABS-CBN, but also GMA and Inquirer, now I'm not sure if the QCPD has been feeding insinuating news initially to implicate a broadcaster whom isn't exactly a friend of the QCPD.

Of course, mainstream media and other blowhards would make the case of "if the police can do it to a media personality, they can do it to a common person" argument and that may be true. But what I'm thinking is that the majority of us already know that the police operate very arbitrarily (e.g. squatter & vending relocations, traffic arrests, etc.). 

What I'm worried is that the initial impression that we thought that Ted Failon might be a suspect and if you are too busy to read on the follow-up reports that the QCPD may not be objective, then you'll harden that suspect opinion in your head.

Which does not bode well for us who are too busy to survive to make a cry on our situation, once powers that be (the Empress and her minions) start doing their hanky-panky, and we believe the first news that comes out, and do not listen to the objections and only realize it until it is too late.

And this is when first impressions may prove fatal.