Mothers, Don't Let your Children Play in the Street

It's a wonder that thousands of children don't die every single day in the Philippines. The amount of Filipino children left to their own devices to wander the neighborhood and play in the street is rather large. Add to that the many terrible drivers plying the roads and tragedy is just waiting to happen. 

Cue this story.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/metro/931158/2-kids-run-over-by-taxi-in-caloocan-1-dead/story/

Two boys were run over by a taxi while playing in the middle of the road in Barangay 187 in Tala, North Caloocan on Thursday, leaving one of them dead. 

According to Darlene Cay’s report on "24 Oras" on Friday, the victims were 5 and 6 years old, and were cousins.

CCTV footage showed that the taxi driver positioned his vehicle as he was about to make a turn to Dalia Street, where the children were playing. It can also be seen in the footage that the driver was signaling from inside the vehicle for the kids to get out of his way. 

A girl went to the victims to tell them to get off the road. But before the boys could stand up, the vehicle suddenly moved forward towards the street, running over the children. 

Two boys aged 5 and 6 are playing IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. A taxi pulls up and signals for the boys to move so he can make a turn. A girl runs up tp the boys, taps them on the shoulders, and tells them to get out of the road. But they don't move. Instead the taxi, rather than making sure the road was clear, pulls forward and runs over the children.  

The driver stopped but he did not immediately reverse the taxi as the victims remained pinned under the front wheels. 

The 6-year-old victim “JC” was able to crawl away from the taxi, but his 5-year-old cousin “Ismael” was in critical condition. The latter was rushed to the hospital, but he later on died. 

“Hinahanap niya papa niya, ‘papa, papa.’ Sabi ko, ‘Anak, papunta si papa,” said Ivy Espina, Ismael’s mother. 

(He was looking for his papa as he uttered, ‘papa, papa’. I told him, ‘Son, your papa will arrive soon.’) 

“Mga ilang salita lang siya sa akin, sabi niya madilim daw paningin niya, wala raw siyang makita,” said Robert Mangunay, the victim’s father. 

(He only had a few words to say to me. He told me that his vision is dark and he cannot see anything.) 

The parents said that they were inside their home to repair a washing machine, which is their source of income when the incident happened. They already talked to the taxi driver. 

Meanwhile, JC is still in the hospital after suffering broken bones and several bruises. 

“Naaawa ako siyempre. Masakit bilang ina na ganun ang nangyari sa anak ko,” said mother Jamaica Pascual. 

(I feel sorry for my son. It pains a mother to know that such a thing happened to her child.) 

Where were the parents that they couldn't look after these boys? In the house repairing a washing machine. Was there no one to watch the boys? Did they not have a gate or a door that could lock so the boys would not go outside? What's more likely is that these boys are always playing in the middle of the road along with the rest of the neighborhood children. It's no big deal because drivers always look out, right? 

The mother's comments are hilarious. She should be pained and ashamed that she allowed her son to play in the middle of the road. She did this to her son. I feel sorry he has a mother such as her. 

The taxi driver was brought to the traffic center of North Caloocan, but was released as the families of the victims have yet to file charges against him. 

“Nag-insist yung family na mag-desistance kaya walang choice ang investigator natin kundi i-release yung suspect. Kinakailangan kasi ng family yung immediate assistance, kaya siguro nag-decide sila na mag-areglo.” said P/Capt. Nelson Dizon of the Philippine National Police Caloocan North Police Station. 

(The family insisted on desisting so the investigator had no choice but to release the suspect. The family could be in need of assistance that’s why they decided to make arrangements with the driver.) 

But Ismael’s family said that they would push through with the filing of a case if the driver would not take accountability for the incident. 

“Kapag hindi nila inano, hinarap yung problema nila, itutuloy namin yung kaso sa kanila,” said Mangunay. 

(If he will not face the problem, we will continue with the filing of the case.) 

GMA Integrated News reached out to the taxi driver for comment.

And there it is. 

This taxi driver ran over two children, killed one of them, and THE FAMILY HAS TO FILE CHARGES!!! Where is the justice in that? Where is the local prosecutor? Why didn't the cops file homicide charges? Because the family might want to settle with the driver. As long as you pay for the funeral you can get away with vehicular homicide in the Philippines. 

True, another story says this:

Cacho, a resident of San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, is now under police custody.

Police said appropriate charges will be filed against the taxi driver at Caloocan City Judicial Office.

https://mb.com.ph/2024/12/27/5-year-old-boy-dies-after-being-hit-by-taxi-in-caloocan-1

But the Manila Bulletin story was published 3 hours before the GMA article making it more authoritative.

This is just another story highlighting the lack of justice in the Philippines as well as the lack of good parenting. 

The New Normal Jeepnies, Tricycles, and Taxis

The new normal is here and in Manila that means no jeepnies.  But where I live jeepnies are allowed though they have been modified. Let's take a look.

Each jeepney has its seats partitioned so that only 12-8 people, depending on the size of the vehicle, can ride at a time. This is good because it stops crowding. Having twenty people squished together is dangerous. But with less riders the price has increased. A 7 peso ride is now a 10 peso ride. However payment is still made the same way: in cash! And it's handed down from the passengers to the driver. So in that respect nothing has changed. You're just ensconced in plastic!

To pay the driver you stick your hand through that little slot and physically place your coins in his palm. Sure every one is wearing a mask but money is still literally changing hands. I guess that's why this driver wore gloves.

Every jeepney requires all riders to wear a face mask and some even have bottles of alcohol hanging from the ceiling for passenger's use. Here is what an empty new normal jeepney looks like:

Now if you haven't guessed the new normal for public transportation means partitioning the riders from each other and from the driver. Here is how the tricycles manage this partitioning:

I don't ride tricycles but I have a hunch they don't take cashless payments. You still have to hand the driver your money. Not all tricycles have installed a plastic divider in the back but most have.

The same partitioning is also seen in the new normal taxis.

What good is it to have the plastic installed if the entire driver's seat is not blocked off from the passenger seat? Why allow that little bit of space? Same goes for the front.

What's the point if the whole seat is not blocked off? 

So this is new normal as far as public transport goes. It's not too terrible. In the case of the jeepnies this forced limitation on passengers is a good thing. No more overcrowding!

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2017/05/tales-from-jeep.html

Why not allow this jeepney modification in Manila? It might make things a whole lot easier.

Lazy, Stupid Guard Blames Man He Wronged

One recent afternoon I took a taxi to visit a friend. The driver had to fork over his license to the guard in order to enter and was given a numbered card in return.

The driver waited while I was inside. Half an hour almost passed before we all left together. At the guardhouse the guard returned the license but it was not the right one. Turns out he had given it away to some other driver.

"What'd you do that for?", said the taxi driver.

"Well it's your fault. You stayed too long," was the actual reply from the guard. Unbelievable. This lazy guard, not paying attention to what he is doing, blames his mistake on the very man he has wronged! 

How stupid do you have to be to mess this up? You take the ID, put it a number slot, give the driver a numbered card for the slot it's in, the driver returns and you exchange the cards. Pretty simple. Oh and don't forget to visibly check the license with the driver to see if the face matches.

And this is not even an upscale gated neighbourhood. It's more like midlevel. The houses are all conjoined and who knows but it probably smells like burning trash often enough to make you hack and choke.

So now this driver is without a license.  I saw the back of the license he was mistakenly given as he was holding it and it was a Grab driver's ID. How many gated communities will the Grab driver be in and out of surrendering his ID before he realises it's not his? By then he will have forgotten where he lost his ID. This taxi driver's licence is gone and all because of some stupid, lazy guard who thinks he is doing a big important job protecting the gate.

Don't worry though. The poor guy got his license back the next day.

Driving with the hood open

This is one of the most bizarre driving habits I have seen anywhere.  And not just bizarre but plain dumb, if the reasoning behind it is what I suspect it is.

All of these taxis are driving with the hood open. 

Why?  What possible reason could there be to drive with the hood ajar? I can only think of one: to cool the engine!

Seriously can there be any other explanation? They have the hood just slightly ajar. Just popped open so air can breeze through the engine and cool it. 

Are they having that much trouble overheating?  Then there is a radiator problem that needs to be fixed immediately. Do they think it's preventative? Well that's what the radiator is for, to prevent overheating. 

Of course it could be that the hood is just broken. If so that's a problem which needs to be repaired. But it's also highly unlikely because I have seen so many taxis driving like this. The odds that all of them are afflicted with the same hood problem are not very high.

So we have jeepnies driving with Christmas lights rather than using their headlights and taxis driving with the hood open to keep the engine cool.

What's next? Stay tuned!

P.S.  I wrote the above post on March 16th.  Today, March 20th, I was riding in a taxi and I asked the driver if he ever drove with the hood just slightly open.  He said yes he did to prevent the engine from overheating.