It’s past 7:00 pm, I was waiting for a Navotas-bound jeep along Puregold, Pritil when suddenly a jeep going to Ilaya, Divisoria (this is from the other side of the road) took a U-turn and called over the passengers waiting alongside with me and changed its route to Navotas. Waiting for almost eternity at the terminal, the passengers hurriedly ran toward the jeep in a desperate attempt to go home immediately. I was one of the crowd, and luckily I found my spot near the estribo. I actually found it weird for a jeep to go back to its origin without even reaching its destination, the passengers which are bound to Divisoria were forced to go down the jeep and ride another one. As we travelled along Agora (Navotas), we reached an intersection where a few more passengers entered the jeep. Soon, a man who is obviously from POSO(traffic management team)started yelling at us and violently approached the jeep. He kicked and banged over the jeep so that it would stop at the other side of the intersection. He claimed that picking-up passengers from the other side of the intersection is illegal. Since the driver knew that he didn’t commit any violation, he defended himself and said that he didn’t wait for passengers at that side of the intersection, and he didn’t even stayed for a very long time at that particular spot. The scene got bigger and it drew crowds of people near the jeep. The man from POSO, angrily blew a punch right at the drivers face. To the driver’s amazement, he shouted at the officer and asked why he did that to him in tears. More and more people gathered along our jeep, as I was half-clueless of what’s happening at the front side of the vehicle. When I removed my earphones, this is what I heard:
Jeepney Driver: Eh pu**ngi*a mo pala eh! Bakit mo ko sinapak? Ikaw yung naunang nanakit ikaw pa yung galit!!!
POSO Officer: Eh ayaw mong huminto pinapahinto na kitang ta**nt*d* ka!!! Akina lisensiya mo!
Jeepney Driver: Bakit ko bibigay sayo lisensiya ko ta**i*a ka! Ni hindi nga ko nagtagal dun sa kabila eh! Tanong mo pa sa mga pasahero ko, ta**i*a mo!!!
POSO Officer: Pu**n*i*a mo rin!
Jeepney Driver: Ta*r*n**d* ka!!
-The POSO officer said something about the passenger sitting beside the driver. I wasn’t able to hear clearly what he said but I’m sure he said something that made the passenger berserk.
Passenger: Sinabi nang hindi kami nagtagal dun gag* ka! Pasahero lang kami dito, kami inaano mo! Ta*gi*a ka! Abusado ka eh! Kami napeperwisyo mo!!!
-As the other passengers went out the jeep and as the traffic grew longer and longer, I realized that I too should abandon the jeep, forget about my 10 bucks, and find another jeep to get home. I was able to ride another jeep, and the people inside soon looked out and started talking about the commotion at the other jeep. Other passengers that I sat along with the controversial jeep started telling their version of the story to the driver and his wife. While moving away, large number of bystanders, coming from different places, walk towards the controversial jeep. Meters away from the commotion, the issue inside the jeep I’m riding was still about the POSO guy and the driver. The new driver even said that he, himself, was also caught by this POSO guy. His wife added, “Namemera lang yan eh! Abuso na yan, dapat yan sumbong kay Toby(Navotas Mayor)!” I kept my mouth shut all the while. I was torn between emotions. I kept thinking about how Filipinos are really concerned with what’s going on around them, especially proven by ‘usyoso guys’ I saw gathered near the controversial jeep; how can they be too open to talk bluntly about these kind of things to other people, whom they don’t even know and build a certain camaraderie even inside a jeep with very limited time; and how people with such amount of power and position can get too abusive with their job.
I got a lot more than an hour of ride from Manila to Navotas.
This is what I can’t see at any other place. :D
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