Law & Order

I find it quite amusing how one task force of the MMDA can be out there toiling under this suffocating heat we’ve been having, tearing down billboards and beautifying the skyline, while another elite squad from the same office can spend their days erecting those hideous pink fences. Isn’t that a bit like sweeping garbage from one side of the street to another?

Perhaps. But it gives us a good snapshot of why we face the kind of traffic problems we do on our roads today — the left hand of the law has absolutely no idea what the right is doing. Or even what right is. No offense, your honors, but consistency is the key here. Lets forget referendums, committees, resolutions and a plethora of fancy new laws — we have way too much of that already. Let’s focus on enforcement. Period.

Take the case of a certain Mr. de Guzman, a bus driver that tried to run down an MMDA officer that was trying to apprehend him for a traffic violation outside SM Megamall a while back. After narrowly escaping the possibility of becoming a hood ornament, the enforcer was able to flag down a policeman and pursue the fleeing bus that sped away from the scene. They eventually caught up with the brazen bus bandit in Quezon City and confiscated his driver’s license. (Wow! That’ll learn him! I wonder if they made him write lines on the blackboard, too.)

Am I missing something here? I know that ever since the death penalty was wiped out, the administration has been accused of going soft on crime, but this is kind of extreme, don’t you think? Call me old fashioned, but somehow, as a law-abiding citizen, I want to feel that I live in a city that frowns on people trying to run over law enforcers just to escape a traffic fine. Not a token slap on the wrist. C’mon, confiscating his license? That should have been the minimum before the handcuffs and attempted murder charge. Hell, I think that even Amnesty International would be crying for blood.

I’m all for the innocent-till-proven-guilty thing but it turns out that this bus driver had accumulated a total of 59 unsettled fines and penalties for various traffic infractions over the last year. And as if that was not already appalling enough, you can imagine my shock when I found out that the same guy was able to retrieve his license back from the cops later that day. Later. That. Day.

Yet they still keep building pink fences.

Perception plays a very important role in law enforcement. Respect, after all, is a two way street. You cannot expect cooperation from the public when you have these blatant violators flaunting their immunity in front of us while the boys in blue continue to turn a blind eye to even the grossest of traffic violations committed by the drivers of public utility vehicles.

Last Saturday, I was crawling my way through a toxic patch of traffic on the service road that leads up to the Nichols Bridge. This is always a stressful stretch but it is made worse by the professional counter flowers that feel that their time is far more important than everyone else that is waiting patiently in line, combined. Sure enough, a Taxi breaks out of formation and starts counter flowing down the opposite lane. An MMDA officer jumps out just before the intersection and stops him. Justice! I was going to take great pleasure pulling up past this guy’s cab and poking faces at him, and rubbing in the point that stupidity does not pay. But he got the last laugh. Rather than ticketing him, the MMDA officer just shook his head and helped him cut in line, saving the cab at least half an hour of waiting.

This was a perfect opportunity to make an example of this idiot, and yet the MMDA officer blew it. Had he ticketed him, and made him reverse the entire length back, I guarantee you that discipline would have been restored. Eventually. Instead, the inevitable happened; taking from this guy’s cue, a convoy of rats followed the Pied Piper; and rather than drowning them all, our friendly MMDA officer led them all through until a gridlock formed and nobody went anywhere. For another hour.

The same MMDA officer then waved me down because by the time I got to the bridge, I had exceeded the 10am-3pm window and was now coding. I tell you, for a moment, I almost sympathized with de Guzman, the runaway bus driver. I almost did the same.

The country is divisive enough. We don’t need to bring that onto our roads as well. When a law enforcer turns his back on a public utility vehicle only to milk a private motorist, it creates civil unrest. But sadly, many motorists that I interviewed for this piece feel that exactly that has already happened. And it is not isolated to just the public utility vehicles.

Just this year a close friend of mine was run off the road by one of those cowards in a security convoy. It all started at around 8:15 p.m. one night on the southbound lane of the Skyway. My friend, who doesn’t want to be identified for fear of retaliation, was driving home peacefully when he passed a black luxury car traveling at about 90 km/h. He wasn’t racing; there was no incident between the two cars; nothing; it was the kind of thing you probably do countless times without even realizing. Just as he got along side, the driver of the black car rammed him. It was so unexpected that he spun out and lost control of his car, eventually crashing out on the side of the road. Dazed and bewildered, my friend hopped out and was horrified to see three armed men surrounding his wreck and pointing their guns at him and yelling, "You’re drunk. You are a drunk foreigner!"

My friend was neither drunk, nor foreign.

My friend came out with his hands up saying, "Don’t shoot. I’m unarmed. Don’t shoot." Once all the commotion subsided, my friend realized that he was just another victim of a typical tale of arrogance, and these monkeys surrounding him were nothing but polo-barong-clad Neanderthals hired to protect the spineless VIP in the black luxury car that just hit him. Thankfully by this stage he had managed to draw a huge crowd of motorists that were still making their way home from work. This is probably the only thing that saved him.

The PNCC arrived on the scene only to hop back on their bikes and dilapidated pick ups once they found out that the guy in the black car was a VIP, (Very Insecure Prick). They refused to help and failed to follow normal procedure of at least taking a sketch, license and registration details or statements from witnesses. In other words, they were scared. Intimidated. Bought. Who knows? Whatever it was, it was foul. They failed to protect a toll-paying motorist that needed help. Shame on them.

Another one slips through the revolving door of justice. And while it may seem that I have focused on a few isolated cases, I feel that it is representative of the growing problem that is choking our streets; this de Guzman, the VIP and the authorities that enable them just happen to be the perfect ambassadors to my point. But they are just the tip of the tumor. Things are only going to get worse unless something very drastic is done. One back seat driver texted in recently with a suggestion to raise the fines to P3,000 and give the enforcer a thousand bucks commission. I wonder how many would still slip through the cracks? While there may be room for abuse, it is a start, and I feel that it is a step in the right direction.

Right now, our roads are ruled by anarchy. Pink fences will only help if they build them around these culprits in a tiny 6X9 cell. If you want to see an improvement, work on consistency, equality and fearless enforcement regardless of who some people think they are. Send a strong message. Because little will change while erring public utility drivers and arrogant VIPs continue to get away with murder — or at least attempted murder.

Crime has already been organized. Now it’s up to our authorities.

Here are some of your messages from last week...

Taxis waiting at Victory Liner terminal in Pasay City only take passengers willing to pay P250 flat fee! — Juan Eduardo, Bauang La Union

How good it makes us feel when the reckless public utility drivers we ride with are apprehended, and the enforcers stand firm in giving them tickets. — 09202664571

No helmet. No head. You’re dead. — 09266805043

Proper lane driving is what should be observed. The leftmost/center lane should be used for overtaking only. — Rony Soneja, Marikina City

Traffic here along C. Raymundo Avenue in Pasig has worsened since Manila Water began digging last May. When will they ever stop? — 09159946973

Speak out, be heard and keep those text messages coming in. To say your piece and become a "Backseat Driver", text PHILSTAR<space>FB <space>MOTORING<space>YOUR MESSAGE and send to 2840 if you’re a Globe or Touch Mobile subscriber or 334 if you’re a Smart or Talk ’n Text subscriber or 2840 if you’re a Sun Cellular subscriber. Please keep your messages down to a manageable 160 characters. You may send a series of comments using the same parameters.