TRIVIA
By YANI CORDERO
‘Babaw lang, ‘Day…’
RAINY months have come with the start of school
year 2009. Expectedly, traffic jams in the city streets while
the road shoulders fill with pedestrians either boarding the
jeepneys and going down from it, or simply walking towards their
destinations.
If we observe closely, we will notice that over
80 percent of those pedestrians are students and workers. They
brave the rains for whatever reason they have.
It is understandably the case during rainy months.
We get wet when we leave our homes without preparation for the
rains. However, with the many jeepneys that run bumper to bumper
through the streets, it makes it easier for the pedestrians
in any case they prefer. They may choose to take a ride or walk
through the smoke-filled sidewalks if they wish. This is fairly
the situation in an urban area like Iloilo City where the public
has choices so to say…except that this great number of
jeepneys themselves creates a problem to the commuters. How
can that be?
Supposedly, there should be order in the city
traffic by now. What with all those clamor and heated arguments
in the past months of trial and errors when traffic was in the
experimental stage allegedly. What happened to the decongestion
plans where areas that were foreseen to have the most commuters
were given a number of traffic aides to guide the public and
the public utility vehicles?
Since last week, I had been through the traffic
and the loading/unloading areas around the Jaro Plaza, and it
is not very good. This Tuesday (June 23, 2009) morning was worse.
It was actually showering and a number of students were in the
vehicle I was riding in from Ungka, Jaro. Two of them –
one wearing a medical uniform of the Iloilo Doctors’ College
and the other wore an ID with the University of the Philippines
emblem, tried to stop the jeepney in the corner just after the
PRC office. I surmised it was easier there to get a Leganes
jeepney passing their school.
Certainly, the driver answered, “Ngita
ta di’ lugar sa loading area, ‘Day. Dali lang. (I’ll
just find a place in the loading area, ‘Day).”
The driver tried to find a place to wedge in
– in the loading/unloading area in front of that house
in ruins but the other Jaro-CPU jeepneys there were not moving
at all. Our vehicle kept moving slowly, hoping for one to leave
so we can take its place until we reached the end of the line
where two men in light blue uniform were standing. He motioned
to our driver to proceed to the next jeepney stop located in
front of the Jaro Cathedral. I saw the driver wince as I saw
how the two students looked at each other in desperation because
the rains have gone heavier.
“Babaw lang ta kuno, Day… Sori lang
ha…” the driver said, in apology.
The next stop was just as full of Jaro-CPU jeepneys
waiting as well… Another four men in light blue uniform,
too, were standing, scattered near the line there. No jeepney
was moving out of the area enclosed with the yellow line. The
driver asked the men in blue where he can unload the students
but they just looked at him with outright intent to ignore.
So the driver told the students to alight right there. He stopped
his vehicle parallel to the yellow line and the students ran
down towards the shed. After which, you know exactly what happened…
he was apprehended.
Traffic problems do not seem to stop besieging
our city. There is really something wrong somewhere which, according
to that candid city councilor, Hon. Erwin Plagata, is partly
due to some of the traffic aides.
Why, who takes them in? Well, this same gentleman
compared these misbehaving traffic aides to a jukebox, too.
You drop some coins and they are “ON”… Hahaha!
You’ll find below what is actually happening and the frequently
asked questions of the commuters…
What the ‘traffic’ division has done
- Yellow lines are painted on the
streets designated as the jeepney
stop.
- City bound jeepneys stay longer
than is necessary in the loading
/ unloading area.
- Traffic aides are stationed in
every ‘stop’ area.
- They have specified the violations
that drivers may possibly commit
- They have allowed some public
utility vehicles to wait in the yellow
line, thus leaving no more space
for the others.
QUESTIONS
- Why are those jeepneys allowed to
stay inside the yellow lines and wait?
What are they waiting for? Kingdom
come?
- Are jeepneys supposed to stay and
wait for passengers there?
- Are they there to watch for viol-
ations? Or encourage violators whom
they favor?
- Is not staying longer than is necessary
in the loading/unloading area a
violation too?
- Where do other passenger jeepneys
unload then?
“Sir, why does our city hire these buyable
(balaklon) people still? Whether we admit it or not, the jeepney
riding public will ask this question each time they want to
alight in any jeepney stop but are referred to the next. As
they see the other jeepneys park there, they will silently murmur
their questions. Every time they see groups of other passenger
jeepneys parked in the yellow painted areas that block the way
of honest drivers who want to unload passengers... they simply
come face to face with the true form of corruption, visitors
to our place will long remember how violators are given preferential
attention here… sad to say, in our city streets by the
traffic enforcers themselves. Shame!
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Reactions and contributions are welcome. Please email to:
va_wiley50@yahoo.com.ph
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