MY AMERICAN friend Ron Rathbun is only too glad to be back to what he calls “civilization” in the USA.
I thought he was provoking me, this “arrogant” American. Yet many Filipinos would make the same comment. That would be the same description I would make albeit toned down. After all, I live here.
I can still remember Premiere magazine who quoted Hollywood actress Claire Danes, as saying Manila “smelled of cockroaches, with rats all over, and that there is no sewerage system.”
She even described Manila as a “ghastly and weird city.” Well, she hasn’t seen or tasted Bacolod life.
Who can deny seeing rats running around the Bacolod or at the Central or any of the city’s public market? Or for that matter who thinks driving is about making a jeep or a cab run?
The concept of road courtesy or traffic safety is strange concepts for many Bacoleño drivers.
Ron is exasperated with many of them. He longs to go back to his country where everyone follows the rules, especially traffic rules. Rules are rules, not a take-it-or-leave-it compliance.
I can understand his chagrin. The yellow in traffic lights means to slow down, not to speed-up to beat the red light. Or to stay in their designated lanes. Or to wear motorcycle helmets and to fasten seat belts.
Many drivers make their own rules. You should see drivers weave their way around the opposite lane to get from the back to the head of the traffic.
My dear friend and Sister-in-Christ Riznie Sevilla of the Light of the Jesus Family, the charismatic group who hosts The Feast, would agree with Ron’s outlook and mine as well.
Sis Riznie nearly has seen the living daylight knocked off her. To her horror, she saw an Avanza cab rushing toward her along 19th Street. Why the rush on a slow traffic on Black Saturday is beyond my comprehension.
Well, I experienced the same thing years ago. A cab bumped the rear end of the jeep I was riding that sent it flying. Fortunately, Sunday traffic was light. Which made me wonder why we were bumped and the cab driver even had the gall to get mad at the jeepney driver.
Ron is mad not just at these erring drivers and at the law enforcers. Bacolod did it once with enforcing the anti-jaywalking and the helmet law. For once, Bacoleños get a whiff of the rule of law and internalizing discipline.
Alas, law enforcement is backsliding to its comfort zone of “uncivilized” management of society, back to ningas cogon society. (bqsanc@yahoo.com)