I went to Mapua earlier to run an errand for my brother. I find it tiring to go to Manila because of the traffic and the distance. When I got on the bus, I heard the conductor and one passenger arguing. The passenger was insisting that the conductor did not give him a ticket while the conductor was insisting otherwise. I almost got off the bus when I heard them because I’m conflict averse. The argument was not resolved. The two actors just left it hanging and the passenger got off the bus at his stop. The bus continued on dodging traffic and when we were almost halfway to our destination, the bus stopped in a corner and when I looked out the window, I saw the bus driver in the act of relieving his bladder against the bus on my side. But I didn’t really “see” anything just the shoulder and up part of the driver. Hehehe. Anyway, after that we continued on. That was when I started to notice that the driver was quite reckless. He was taking the turns raggedly. It felt like the bus was having difficulty taking the turns. There was even one turn wherein it felt like the bus was going to tip. Some of the passengers almost fell off their seats. Further on the driver was weaving in and out of the traffic and making sudden stops that made look at the driver hard. Of course he did not notice because I was seated a few seats behind him but I caught another passenger’s eye. The woman also looked as incredelous as I did at the way the driver was driving. He made another sudden stop and opened his side window to shout at a pedestrian who crossed the street when the light was green for vehicles. The driver shouted something like “Old man, don’t cross the street when the light is green!” Then he commented to the conductor that the man must have a death wish. What an ironic comment comming from a reckless driver. It seemed he had a death wish too and wanted to take his passengers with him. Anyway, we were arriving nearer and nearer to my destination. Then one lady told the driver she wanted to get off. The driver stopped after we crossed the stoplight and the conductor told the lady to hurry because it was prohibited to drop off passengers in the that area. That’s what I don’t understand about public vehicles, particularly these buses. The drivers and conductors are the ones who know where the proper dropping and picking up points are but they don’t follow them. So if a passenger wants to get off somewhere prohibited, then the driver or conductor should not stop there and tell the passenger to wait until they get to the proper dropping off point. When it was my turn to get off, they also dropped me off a prohibited place while the stop light was still red. Well, I guess today was a typical commuter’s day. I can’t believe I survived travelling almost like this for four years while in college. I guess necessity is really the mother of perseverance.
Last week I was in Manila where Wendy and I met Sol for dinner. I used my BPI Credit Card receipts and we ate at Pizza Hut. I only paid additional P160 because we ordered pasta aside from the freebie regular pizza and salad. I think the freebies were very nice. Sol treated us to drinks at Starbucks since we went all the way to her domain instead meeting in the middle. Well, it’s hard to find a middle ground for Pasig, Quezon City, Manila, and Antipolo. Anyway, it was a little past nine when we decided to call it day. Wendy was able to ride the FX when we got outside but Sol and I waited a little while to check if she was ok since she was the only passenger when she got in. Then we proceeded to the front of Manila City Hall for our rides. Sol saw the GLiner bus which was waiting for the light to turn green. She made me hurry to catch the bus when suddenly the light turned green but she signaled to the driver and I got on the bus. A short while after I sat down, the bus stopped again and then I heard a policeman telling the driver off. I thought the driver would get ticketed but fortunately, the policeman just harangued him. When the bus conductor was gave me my ticket, he told me that next time I should not get a ride there because buses were prohibited to pick up passengers in that area. He added that it was the drivers who would suffer. I just remained silent and paid my ticket but deep inside I was thinking that the driver then should not have waited for me to get on the bus but drive on when the light turned green. I did not force him to pick me up. Moreover, I was not familiar with the place unlike the driver, who knew where it was possible to pick up passengers and where it was prohibited. I knew that it was partly my fault but the driver and the conductor should also know that they are at fault so that next time they would obey the traffic rules more.
I rode the bus today to get home. I usually like riding the bus but when I got on I remembered one aspect of bus-riding I don’t like, buses show movies. Usually the drivers show action, suspense or horror movies, which I’m not fond of. Of course you can’t expect to watch chick flicks because almost all the drivers are males. Anyway, the movie that was showing was an American-Vietnam war movie. It was almost finished when I got on so I don’t really know the story. From what I can gather, it was about American soldiers trapped in the Vietnamese jungles or something. What was striking was that there was this American soldier that got trapped in one of the caves where there was a Vietnamese woman and two children. The Vietnamese woman was brandishing a knife while the American was holding a gun but he was telling the woman that he was not going to kill her but he just wanted to go up the tunnel. The woman was shouting I will kill you in Vietnamese and she was a bit hysterical because she was facing the enemy who could kill her and the children. The woman was yelling at the soldier while the soldier was trying to pacify the woman and gesturing towards the entrance of the tunnel. The woman made the children go into the tunnel while keeping the American at bay when suddenly there was a sudden explosion because unknown to them, an American fighter plane was bombing the area. When the explosing subsided, the man and the woman found themselves trapped in the cave and they tried to dig their way out together. Unfortunately, they were not able to do it in time. The movie ended with the woman losing consciousness due to lack of oxygen, then the man losing his consciousness also and the oil lamp lighting the cave also flickered out. So I guess the lesson of story is that in a dangerous situation, enemies should cooperate with each other to get out of the situation as fast as possible and just continue fighting when they get out.
After the movie was finished, I saw the conducter replacing the CD. I was wishing that the player would get broken because I did not want to suffer through another movie. But before that, I was made to realize how dirty public places really are because there was this old man who transferred to a seat in front but on the other aisle. When he was seating down I smelled something odorous. I was wondering if it was him then the woman seated beside him suddenly stood up and transferred to another seat so maybe I was right. Suddenly the man blew his nose using his finger and dropping it to the floor on the right side of the bus. Yikes. Then he took out his hanky and blew his nose again. When he got off, he held on the back of the chairs until he was able to get off the bus. Just imagine the bacteria or virus transmitted by that single act.
So anyway, the next movie was starting. I could sense that it was a horror movie and it was but what was surprising was that it was a French film with no subtitles. It was the third time I got on the bus and they were showing European films. Anyway, that bus film incident really brought home the fact that globalization is really at work because bus driver and passengers in the Philippines were watching a French thriller where the French characters were riding a Japanese SUV while listening and singing along to a British popsong while on vacation in Croatia (I checked the Internet. Hehehe). I should have taken note of the digicam one the girl characters was using. Maybe it was from another country also.
I rode the bus on my way home yesterday because I came from a training orientation and not from the office. I like riding the bus but I do not like it when they play a movie. It was just my luck that they were playing an old local action movie. The hero was a judge, played by a veteran actor, whose wife and daughter were brutally killed by a gang of men. One of the killers was a brother of a congressman and the judge knew that he would not be able to get justice for his family through the legal process. So he became a vigilante and started killing the suspects. As usual with these local action movies you see a lot of blood and gore and some sex scenes. In this case it was between an old actor and a young actress. It looks kind of weird. Maybe if it were in real life, the older man would be using enzyte to keep up with his very much younger “leading lady”. I was not able to finish the movie, which was a good thing, because I had to get off already.
This was posted inside an airconditioned bus in EDSA.
(Farting is Prohibited!!!)
Earlier, I was on my way to Medical City to deliver my specimen. I caught a non-aircon bus because it was the first transpo available and I had to get to the hospital as soon as possible. When I got on the bus, I was the only one standing. I positioned myself in the middle of the bus and was waiting for one of the guys sitting in the nearby seats to offer me their seat. But alas, there was no such gentleman. I was very philosophical about it since I espouse equality of the sexes. So that means that guys have equal rights to the seats. It was so hot and traffic was so heavy. What was supposed to be a 5 minute ride turned into a 20. Anyway, I was standing and holding on tightly to the back of somebody else’s seat in order to stay upright when I felt a tap on my arm and a guy said “Ate.” When I turned, he gestured to the seat he vacated. When I saw the guy, I thought, “How dare you call me ate, you look older than me.” Hehe. I forgot to thank him when I declined his offer because I was still reeling from the shock of being called ate. It was inconvenient for me to take a seat when I was already near my destination. Anyway, I was very polite (except for forgetting to say thank you) when I turned down his offer. Well, chivalry is not yet dead, just very slow to manifest itself.
If you’re in a hurry, never ever ride a public transportation that’s empty or nearly empty. You’ll just be late because nine out of ten times, the driver will stop for every passenger, possible passenger or by-stander along the way. It will even stop in corners to wait for other passengers. And have you noticed that whenever you’re running late, the driver almost always takes time to drop by a gasoline station for a refill of gasoline or water, or exchange big bills for smaller bills?
If you ask me what I like most about Singapore, my answer would be their public transportation system. I already rhapsodized in my previous post about their train system. Now let’s talk a little about their buses. Bus stations are near MRT Stations. Their buses look a like but not mirror images of each other. There are double decker buses (my one regret was that I was not able to ride at the second floor), the usual bus we see here in the country (single decker? hehehe), small buses, long buses, old buses, sparkling new buses, etc. I saw them all while waiting for our bus to Jurong Bird Park. 
I’m not quite sure but I think their buses were color coded. Every bus route corresponds to a number. So if you don’t want to get lost, make sure to check out their bus route information so that you’ll be able to ride the right bus.
The first time I rode the bus was when we were going to the Night Safari. We got off at the Ang Mo Kio station and walked to the Bus Terminal. At the bus terminal you can see directions to the bus you want to take. Very organized, surprise! 
We fell in line at the SBS Transit Bus #138. While still in the MRT, we were worried that the Zoo would be very far since it said in the brochure that it was going to be one hour bus ride from Ang Mo Kio. We were thinking like we were still in Manila. The reason why it took an hour to get to the Zoo was because the bus travels slowly and carefully. No need to compare it with the buses found in Edsa There were also a lot of bus stops along the way. My friend taught me how to use my Eazy link to pay for the bus fare, same way it’s used for the MRT. Very convenient. There is no bus conducter heckling you for your fare and conveniently forgetting to give you your change.
We also rode buses around Sentosa. The kind we Filipinos love, free rides. Hahaha. We could have had our chance to ride at the top, which was even better because there was no roof, but we were afraid that there would be no available seats, so we just stayed below 
In hindsight, we should have taken the chance. Everything is so clear in hindsight. Hay.
My last ride was from Boon Lay station to the Jurong Bird Park. As I mentioned earlier, we waited for a long time at the station before our bus came. Other buses came and went, still we waited and waited and waited. We were very sweaty and our legs were already aching when it finally arrived.
The inside of the buses were very different from our buses. The seats were spacious and some facing each other. The seats were few and the arrangements were different. Seats of the buses here in the Philipines are all facing front, arranged like the economy class of airplanes, and quite cramped. Unfortunately, I can’t describe it all very well and I don’t have a picture of it, except this one, inside a Sentosa bus. 
And the biggest difference is that the buses in Singapore, like everything else there are disciplined, efficient and organized.
Of all the scary and dangerous situations I’ve encountered as a commuter, this was so far, and hopefully the last, scariest situation I’ve been in. That evening in February 2004 started well enough. I met my friend Kate, yes the same Kate from Davao, at her hotel in the New Renaissance World to grab dinner at Greenbelt. (I’m starting to wonder if these were just coincidences…hehehe..just kidding Kate ) She was in town for a Conference. She treated me to dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Good thing it was a treat because I couldn’t have afforded our dinner. The meal was delicious, the serving was big, the atmospher was relaxed and the conversation fun and long. We finished at around 10:00pm and I accompanied her back to the lobby of her hotel where I took my leave.
I decided not to take a taxi because of all the emails I had been receiving at that time that warned about taking the taxi alone. My best bet would have been the MRT but unfortunately I already knew that I missed the last trip. So I started walking to Ayala Avenue to catch a bus to Crossing. It was quite a long walk and I was a little bit scared because the streets were empty and the stores closed. When I got to Ayala Avenue near Rustan’s I easily caught a bus bound for Crossing Ibabaw. I was barely seated and the bus was just about to climb the overpass to Edsa when there was a firecracker-like explosion and a voice saying, “Hold up ‘to. Walang kikilos o papasabugin ko tong bus.” (This is a hold up. Nobody move or I’ll blow up this bus.)
Waaahh! Those were one of the scariest words I’ve ever heard. When I looked to the front of the bus, there was a guy holding a gun in one hand and a hand grenade in the other. A very scary site indeed, I tell you. My heart was pounding so hard and my teeth chattering. I tried praying but I coudn’t seem to get the words right. Then I noticed that aside from the guy with a grenade, there were three other armed men with him. They shepherded the people at the back to occupy the seats in front then systematically began getting the cellphones and wallets of the passengers. When it was my turn, I quickly turned over my cellphone and wallet. I thought about putting my cellphone in the plastic bag I was holding but I was afraid of discovery and I’m a very bad liar. If the hold upper decided to question me, I’d knew I’d give myself away. The guy riffled through my wallet and took out my money then he gave me my wallet back then he moved on to the next person.
I was seated beside the window while we traversed the length of Edsa in silence. My heart slowed down a little but still beating faster than normal. I looked out the window and saw the people outside going about their business with no idea of what was happening to us in the bus. Our bus was just one of the many buses travelling Edsa. As I looked around the bus I noticed that the woman wearing a Mercury Drug uniform seated ahead of me on the other aisle had her whole bag checked twice. It turned out that she only had P20 with her and the hold uppers were not quite conviced. Fortunately, after thoroughly checking her bag out the second time, they were finally convinced. We passed by Crossing, my stop, and proceeded passed Megamall. I was afraid that we’d be very far away from my stop before the hold uppers would decide they were finished with us. I was very relieved when they got off at the foot of the Ortigas-Edsa overpass near Robinson’s Galleria. They made sure that none of us would get off with them. Once the holduppers were gone, the passengers began to talk. One male passenger was left shoeless because the holduppers took his rubbershoes while a female passenger retained her cellphone by hiding it in her seat. When we reached the bottom on the otherside of the overpass, some of us got off. While walking back to Robinson’s Galleria my co-passengers began talking to each other while I surreptiously looked through my wallet. Imagine my great surprise when I saw that I still had P400 left. My money was not hidden or anything but maybe it was because in the hold upper’s hurry he was not able to see the P400 among the receipts and small papers tucked inside my wallet. I was very greatful to be alive and to still have some money. One of my male co-passengers spotted the police in Galleria and he told us that he was going to report what happened to the police as he hurried toward them. We saw him talk to the police and got in the police jeep, presumably to look for the hold uppers. Another guy passenger also hurried away to get another ride. I was left walking alone with the Mercury woman. We talked about the incident. She told me that it was such a shame since the guy holding the grenade was quite goodlooking and looked clean. She noticed this because he sat beside her while he riffled through her bag the second time. Hahaha, I noticed it too… I told her that not all the money was taken even though I gave my wallet to the holdupper. She said that her P20 was not taken from her. When we reached Robinson’s, we rode the jeepney to De Castro together. She insisted on paying my fare even though the P20 was her last money. People can really surprise you with their generosity even after such a horrible ordeal. I got off at Rosario to catch another jeepney while she continued on.
I was able to go home safely and immediately called my phone company to temporarily disconnect my line. Once I’ve related my story to my mom I went online in Chikka and told Kate, my friend, that the bus I was riding was held up and that I would be cellphoneless for sometime. She surprised me because she replied through my chikka by laughing and telling me I was crazy. It was only after we saw each other again after a while that I learned that she thought I was just kidding her since it was still my cellphone number that appeared in her phone. This was because my chikka ID was also my cellphone number.
It was the first time that I experienced crime at such close quarters. I wouldn’t care to experience it again. Who would? It was quite a while before I was comfortable riding the bus again. A few days after the incident I rode another bus with my officemate. I was really on tenterhooks the whole time. I was waiting for somebody to get up and announce “This is a holdup.” Fortunately, it was a smooth ride even though it felt like eternity to me. Now, I’m happy to say that I’m over my trauma.
