Sugarcane Truck Crash

Not sure about the details of this wreck but given that even big overloaded sugarcane trucks drive too fast it's likely the driver lost control because he was speeding and wobbled over onto his side.  It has been a while since I have seen an overturned sugarcane truck but just because a sugarcane truck falls over on its side on the road and I don't see it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Actually looking at these photos close-up it seems as if the passenger side wheels came off.  How that would have happened is not very clear to me.  Whatever the case this is why I bring my camera everywhere I go.

About the PNP Checkpoint Last Night

Last night I went out to buy some snacks from the convenience store down the street. When I got there the place was basically deserted.  All the normal traffic was gone.  The cause was a PNP checkpoint right in font of the store.  Literally there was a PNP officer in camouflage cradling a shotgun standing in front of the entrance.

Last time I saw a PNP checkpoint was months ago and just before the checkpoint there were dozens of motorcyclists parked on the side of the highway waiting for the officers to leave.  All of them were driving illegally. And so it was last night. All the traffic had ceased because everyone is driving illegally! Think about that every time you are on the road. That motorcyclist with no helmet, carrying maybe a gas tank or a water container, with two or three others riding with him one of which might be a small child, and speeding and swerving through traffic is driving with no license and no insurance.  If you get into an accident with that person you are both screwed! And it's not just limited to motorcyclists.  This applies to drivers of all classes and vehicle types.

As I left the store I saw a jeepney with no lights on pulling away from just dropping off a passenger.  I flashed my flashlight at it and the PNP officer telling him the jeepeny does not have its lights on. He did not care. Imagine that. Driving with no headlights past a police checkpoint!

It's past time for the PNP to enforce the traffic rules and to do so more often than at random check points.  This is a problem RevGov and martial law will not solve.  

The precarious way the PNP officers and security guards cradle their guns is also a problem RevGov will not solve.  Is it really safe and appropriate to rest your arms on your rifle as it hangs about your neck or to press the barrel into the ground like it's a cane?  I don't think so.

About Trains

Just a quick question.  Since the Philippines cannot handle the MRT Rail line they currently have now:

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/11/16/1759512/mrt-limits-operations-after-baffling-decoupling-incident

How are they going to handle a subway system?

http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/11/14/17/manila-subway-project-moves-forward-as-japan-ph-exchange-notes

Or a high speed train?

http://business.inquirer.net/230847/high-speed-rail-clark-seen-running-2022

The MRT is a disaster.  It does not run on time.  There are long lines.  The cars decouple.  It's a tragedy waiting to happen. You can google "MRT 3 problems" and there will be so many results. Seriously if they cannot maintain this dinky toy train how will the Philippines be able to properly maintain an underground train or a state-of-the-art high speed train? 

Anyone who rides these trains, should they actually ever become operational, will be taking their life into their own hands.

Motorcycle Madness/Standing in Trucks All in One Video

You never know what you are going to see when you leave the house. Just when you think you have seen everything something more ridiculous comes along.

Why are they all standing in the back of a moving vehicle?  Why is there a little girl sitting on the motorcycle?  Why do none of these people care about their safety or the safety of the little girl? 

One swerving motorcycle, jeepney, taxi, sugarcane truck, or car causing the driver to slam on the brakes and it's all over for these people. The most shocking thing about driving in the Philippines isn't the complete lack of concern drivers have for safety and the rules of the road but the fact that there aren't more deadly accidents.

Highway to the Danger Zone

Is this the world's most dangerous construction zone? 

In Bacolod City a section of road is being torn up so that the sewage system can be upgraded. Take a look at these photos and tell me this is not the most dangerous and unsafe construction zone you have ever seen.  A huge open chasm with no protective barriers.  Workers in sandals and shorts.  The road literally crumbling and liable to break underneath the weight of traffic.

How is this allowed???  Whoever is responsible for this needs to be fired immediately.  

Look at how close we are driving to this deep open hole!

None of these workers are wearing protective gear of any kind!  This is a major safety violation.

A deep open chasm with absolutely no protective barriers!  Some careless driver, and there are plenty of those to go around, could fall right in! So could any of the numerous stray dogs or even a stray drunk!

The road is literally crumbling away and these drivers don't even realise the danger they are in. The flimsy barrier is not even standing in place.

DANGER DEEP EXCAVATION!!??

Yeah we can all see that but how is that safety tape going to prevent a wayward motorist from falling into the crevice?  How will that flimsy string prevent the road from crumbling? Why are there no workers hurrying to finish the job except for a few idiots wearing absolutely no protective gear?

There needs to be concrete safety barriers along the edge of the chasm to prevent anyone from falling in.

Concrete safety barriers

Someone's head should roll for this unsafe and potentially deadly nightmare. This unsafe and dangerous construction zone screams either incompetence or wilful negligence. Someone must be held accountable.  Every jeepney, taxi, car, and truck that passes down this road is in grave and immediate danger from the road crumbling beneath them or from falling into the deep open pit!

These pictures show an incredible Philippine Fail!!!

Jeepney Danger

Accidents don't "just happen."  That is safety 101.  Wearing protective equipment, making sure all safety precautions are taken, following the rules, these are the ways accidents are prevented before they happen.  But if you routinely buck the rules and ignore common sense then you are only one thread away from death or grave injury.

Road safety in the Philippines is non-existent.  No one follows the rules.  And no one enforces them either.  There are no police patrolling the streets looking for speeders, drunk drivers, cars without headlights, or anyone else driving unsafely.  In the Philippines when you get on the road you put your life in your own hands.  Be sure to buckle up.

Jeepnies are some of the worst offenders when it comes to ignoring safety practices.  They overload the jeepny and then they allow people to stand outside hanging on for miles and miles as if it's no big deal.  It is a big deal. It shows a complete disregard for the safety and life of the passengers.  It's an accident just waiting to happen.  

And it's 100% totally preventable.

Flip-Flops on the Job Site

What's up with Filipinos wearing flip-flops or slippers on the job site?  It's just not safe at all.  

These are all mundane everyday examples of disregarding safety on the job site in the Philippines.  But the guy below really takes the cake in terms of stupidity and being unsafe.

So they decided to demolish a building and they have an excavator digging up the rubble and depositing it in a truck.  

On top of the truck is this guy. I guess his job is to make sure all the rubble is evenly sorted so the excavator can deposit the maximum amount. But what is he wearing?  Shorts and a t-shirt. No hard hat.  No pants.  No gloves.  No long-sleeved shirt.  No eye protection.  And......

No boots!  He is wearing slippers! Does he not realise he could step on a sharp rock or piece of metal or some other piece of rubble and puncture his foot?  

How is he even allowed on the site dressed like that?

This guy is a tragedy just waiting to happen.  At any moment the excavator could drop a load and the rubble fall right on top of him rendering instant death or serious injury. This is not like in the above pictures where the worker is in a relatively safe spot.  This is a demolition zone.  If you look carefully at the first picture you will see a "Men At Work" sign acknowledging this is a construction site and you will see a man walking around towards the far right.

Who is he?  The foreman?  He is not dressed right either.  He's not wearing a hardhat and it looks like he's not wearing steel-toe boots.

To be completely honest this is not always how it is.  There are several construction sites around town right now where the workers are dressed appropriately in hard hats, boots, eye protection, and all the rest.  I think the difference is that those sites are high profile projects where the city is making a huge investment and therefore there are a lot of eyes watching.

These workers are wearing the appropriate PPE

But those sites are the exception and not the rule.  The rule is "get it done no matter what." Workers dressed inappropriately for the job is too common a sight. The Philippines needs an office like OSHA to make sure working conditions are safe.

Oh wait, they already have an OSHA office.  

http://www.oshc.dole.gov.ph

The problem, like many problems in the Philippines, is enforcement.  No one enforces the laws.

And that puts everyone at risk.

Absolutely Brilliant!

One of the most dangerous things about power lines in the Philippines is all the dangling wires. The linemen string up all kinds of wires going to who-knows-where and wrap the leftover danglers around the wires they strung up and it makes a huge mess.  There are often long lengths of electrical wire (always assume they are hot) hanging down to the road and sidewalk creating a potentially deadly situation for any passer-by.  

Here we see that somebody thought of an absolutely brilliant way to take care of the leftover wire and not leave it hanging about: just tie it to the fire hydrant.  It's good to see that someone was finally thinking about safety.

A Tale of Two Motorcycles

Motorcycles that pass at the intersection and speak each other in passing,

Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;

So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another,

Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.

               

                          - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It was the best of times to go out for a ride with the family,

it was the worst of times in that no one wore a helmet,

it was the age of wisdom in knowing you don’t need to wear a motorcycle helmet,

it was the age of foolishness in carrying your helmet on your arm instead,

it was the epoch of belief that you won’t crash and kill your family,

it was the epoch of incredulity that four people can safely fit on a motorcycle,

it was the season of Light so everyone can see how stupid both these families are,

it was the season of Darkness because everyone thinks this is normal and not dangerous,

it was the spring of hope that no crash would happen and God would protect them,

it was the winter of despair when they crashed and all their children’s heads split open like watermelons.

                                                                  - Charles Dickens

Terrorism Tramples Tourism

Last week the Department of Tourism Chief pleaded with the media to tone down reports on EJKs (extrajudicial killings) because it's bad news for tourism.

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/03/22/1683558/dot-chief-media-tone-down-reports-killings-boost-tourism

Is the DOT chief even remotely aware of how rife with crime and how dangerous the whole country is for tourists in general? The reputation the Philippines has for being unsafe did not start with the advent of the drug war. This website has an extensive list of names of foreigners who have been murdered in the Philippines: http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Philippines/sub5_6f/entry-3910.html 

Needles to say the response to her suggestion was not positive.

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/03/23/1683890/UN-rapporteur-callamard-DOT-EJKs

An EJK is defined as:

An extrajudicial killing (also known as extrajudicial execution) is the killing of a person by governmental authorities without the sanction of any judicial proceeding or legal process.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrajudicial_killing 

In the midst of the war on drugs the President of the Philippines has been accused of giving the police free reign to kill whomever they suspect is an addict or a pusher.  Many have died since President Duterte took office.  However, the number of people dead from actual EKJs is disputed and none of the statistics on either side of the aisle are particularly reliable.  Here is a rebuttal from journalist Robert Tigalo regarding the inflating of these numbers.

http://www.rigobertotiglao.com/2017/03/20/how-rappler-misled-eu-human-rights-watch-cnn-time-bbc-the-world/

In regards to EJKs and tourism let's ask a completely different question: "What's worse for tourism: a criminal getting killed or tourists actually being kidnapped and beheaded by Muslim terrorists?"

Since the war on drugs began only one foreigner has been a direct casualty.

http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2020683/how-british-barons-daughter-became-statistic-phitourlippines

Wow a British national known for dealing drugs is killed in the drug war.  Big shocker.  The police knew she was a dealer and so did her killers.

Now let's look at how many tourists have been kidnapped and beheaded by Muslims.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-26/philippines-militants-behead-canadian-tourist/7356888

http://www.smh.com.au/world/canadian-robert-hall-beheaded-by-islinked-group-after-kidnapping-in-philippines-20160613-gpi8tv.html

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11808789

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2015/11/17/bernard-then-beheading-ransom-not-met/

The last guy, Bernard Then, was not even a tourist.

After being kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf militants from a restaurant in neighbouring Sandakan, Sabah on 15 May 2015, he was brought to Parang, Sulu before beheaded in Jolo after ransom demands was not met

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Sayyaf_beheading_incidents

Abu Sayyaf is so dangerous that not only are tourists not safe but no country in the region is safe.  

It's clear that the greater threat to tourists and tourism in the Philippines is Abu Sayyaf and other Muslim terrorist groups and not EJKs.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3368646/ISIS-unveil-Philippines-new-breeding-ground-jihadis-latest-propaganda-video-featuring-secret-Filipino-jungle-training-camp.html

What madness is this that the Philippines is tolerating becoming a training ground for ISIS? It's time to put an end to Islamic terrorism in the Philippines once and for all.