Scenes of Filipino Discipline as seen in the LRT

Saturday, 05 November 2011 00:00

Written by Aaron Benedict De Leon

You won’t find a lot of writers who’d say something about ordinary Filipinos and citizens. This is perhaps because they come from the same constituency. And you will very often find writers who would put a lot of premium on citizen accountability and responsibility. This is because government and personalities are easy targets for writers, while writing something about citizens would only make you unpopular in many people’s eyes.

But talking about eyes- I think nobody can turn a blind eye with some of the things you see wrong about Filipinos just upon observing them from your way to work or school and vice versa. And as a civic minded citizen, your eyes wouldn’t lie as you witness the kind of attitude some Filipinos display when they are backed into a corner, and as much as your mind would want to, your conscience would forever bug you and keep you sleepless. And I will tell you, square in the face, through your eyes; this attitude has no regard for the feelings and lives of everybody but themselves.

And won’t you feel bad for others who fall prey and victim for the insensibility and utter disregard for others by some? Won’t you get angry at someone who commits crime against a person who is almost in the same social class as the perpetrator?

Discipline is about values, and should never be deserted despite temptations of comfort at the expense of others, and even because of poverty. And you don’t have to go that far to look out for concrete manifestations about the lack of discipline of some Filipinos. For me, I can easily pin point these as I go to work through the Light Right Transit (LRT).

The LRT as a microcosm of Filipino Discipline

The LRT is a convenient mode of transportation that should make people more mobile through shorter travel times, so that they can become more economically productive. There are 13-14 million passengers every month riding the LRT, with almost 400,000 on a daily average, and the Government subsidizes around Php 7 Billion for its daily operations and maintenance. The actual cost of riding the LRT, according to government officials, is Php 45 per trip, thus the government pays for the remaining Php 30 that is not shouldered by the single journey fare in the LRT.

And given the potential mobility being offered by a trip through the LRT, the benefit does not only go to those in the middle class. Even blue collared workers, and those in higher income bracket levels, have resorted to riding the LRT to save up on gas and expenses.

So there you have it- the LRT being a mix of people from various strata in Philippine Society. You have executives, managers, ordinary workers, contractual employees, blue collared workers, minimum wage earners and even jobless people taking the same route, using the same mode.

I take my cue from being an everyday passenger of the LRT, and I tell you, you sacrifice a lot of convenience for mobility. It has indeed become rowdy, chaotic and often, uncontrollable.

The LRT is where you will usually see the not so good about some Filipinos.

If you try to take the LRT at around 7:00 AM, everyone is in a sense of hurry. You take the long lines to buy a ticket, and a longer one to simply ride the coaster.

Upon approaching the waiting area, you will already have an idea how unorganized some passengers are, with others trying to cut corners just to get in front of the other.

What seems to be very surprising is that when a skip train arrives (a skip train is a coaster intended for a specific station which has a lot of potential passengers), everything not so good about most of the LRT’s passengers come out- the smell, the order and most importantly, the attitude, all in one bunch, in one space.

Entering the train, even with a skip train that can house even double of those around in the station, becomes a shoving, wrestling and physical tussle, with guys caring less for women or older folks just to get inside the coaster. You’d often see fights, people exchanging pushes and elbows, and verbal argumentations. What makes these incidents affect people is that they go on endless ranting and noise just to get across their points, disturbing the silence and the peace of the entire trip.

The LRT now becomes a marketplace, more than a transportation vehicle, which usually becomes such a disgraceful display for foreigners who take the LRT to have the Filipino hang of it.

What enrages you more is that people clog the entrance points upon their entry, where as a lot of space is available in the middle. The tendency is that people in the succeeding stations don’t get to have the chance to enter because people cannot move anymore because someone or a group is clogging the way towards the middle. You can call it selfish, or what have you. But I would like to call it “uncalled for greed.” Everybody seems to be greedy to easily get out of the train, preventing others from getting the benefit of faster travel, because they can’t get in even when there’s a lot of space to be filled-up.

And then you have pickpockets, who take advantage of the compactness of people to make simple strides at getting valuables like cellular phones and wallets. What makes it worse is that you won’t be able to catch them, because some people seem not to mind if someone gets victimized.

Again, hurrying up should never be used as an excuse for this display of untoward attitudes, because every one is equally in a hurry or urgently needed somewhere.

And you have a government that is spending on some passengers that don’t deserve to even be given the privilege of riding the LRT.

Well, I will not further elaborate on people forgetting fundamental generosity and decency, but some tend to forget already to lend a seat to old folks, pregnant women and even people with babies.

I have not seen a more concrete manifestation of insensitivity with what I’ve been experiencing in the LRT.

FOOTNOTE

I wouldn’t want to go on in saying that the Filipino LRT riding public represents the vast majority of Filipinos, but in reality, they represent a significant segment of our society today.

We always complain, we always clamor, we always want what is best for us, yet, this is the kind of attitude we display towards the benefits our government provides us. Riding the LRT is a privilege, not a right. Not everyone in Metro Manila enjoys the privilege of riding the LRT, but they also pay for the subsidies being given to its passengers.

I’m sure the taxpaying public wouldn’t mind, so long as there is order in the way their money is being spent, and people are responsible in using these privileges, with least harm to others.

And we can’t go on being like this forever- being insensitive towards other passengers, and other fellow Filipinos.

It’s time we stop offering excuses for our own faults, and start taking up some form of accountability and responsibility, the same we demand from our government. There’s also what we call “putting yourself in the shoes of others” and “existing in a world of people, and not in home alone.” It doesn’t take a genius to discover the solution. All it takes is for people to mind and care about others. All it takes is a little generosity and more selflessness. If we can afford to buy material things, there is no excuse not to afford decency and kindness to others.

Because if we go on to display undisciplined attitudes like this, whether it’s in the LRT or somewhere else, “we truly get the government we deserve” and this cycle will go on and on and on, unless we discover what’s wrong within us, more than what we see in others.