September and October are usually the months that most government agency heads dread. These are the months were in they have to submit themselves to another nerve wracking and insult-filled audience with power-hungry congressmen in order to have their budgets approved. I have never been to a budget hearing but I have heard horror stories from my friends who have been unfortunate enough to be required to attend. Heads of agencies together with their staff make a financial reporting to the members of Congress to detail how their agency spent their previous budget and then they present their budget requirements for the next fiscal year. The difficulty of getting your budget approved and the degree of humiliation you will suffer will depend on how much ass kissing your agency has done before budget season comes. However, all these activities seem to be an exercise in futility because for many years now, no new budget has been passed but only a reenactment of the previous year’s budget.
I was running late again this morning. As usual I left the house at 6:40 instead of 6:30 to ensure that I will be at our meeting place by 7:00am. We have a five minute grace period but it can still be extended if we just text ahead and ask Kuya Alvin to wait for a few more minutes. My trip started well enough. The driver kind of drove fast but unfortunately when we got to Manggahan Bridge the traffic enforcer showed favoritism in lanes. We had to wait for around five minutes before he signaled the cars in the opposite lane to stop. My co-passengers were already complaining. Then it seemed like somebody gets in and out of the jeep every fifty meters or so. Then the driver had to stop for gasoline. People were already complaining loudly. A guy even insulted the driver saying he was so slow before getting off at the gasoline station. We stopped at Caltex the first time but no gasoline boy was available. I’m sure the driver felt how restive his passengers were getting so we exited the gas station without having a refill. I thought he would continue on and just stop for gasoline once he has dispatched all the passengers. So much for that hope. A few meters away we stopped at Shell for gas. Good thing the Shell gas boys were fast. After that the jeepney flew through the highway. When I got to our meeting place I saw one of my office mates walking in front of me and when I got into the FX, we still had to wait for one more. Even though we left our meeting place a little later than usual we still arrived before 7:30 at the office.
