Scary tales in the city

The witching hour (fright night) is at hand. You know it’s Halloween when you see jack-o’-lanterns hanging in stores in malls all over the city – plus all those ghoulish reminders of the scariest season of all. No, we’re not afraid of ghosts. Not really! These days, there are a lot of other things we’re mortally afraid of. They give us the creeps more than Freddie Krueger ever can.

Parents are afraid that everytime they send their kids out the door, something horrible might happen to their precious little ones, what with the recent spate of bombings in the city. We’re even more afraid now that the principal suspect in the bombing of a shopping center in General Santos City named Abdulbasit Usman (bet you, school children are now memorizing this alien name for their surprise current events quiz) had, like a greased ghost, escaped from his police captors (probably in broad daylight?) and is now painting the town red and indulging in his favorite hobby: bomb-making.

And let’s not forget the kidnappers – they never go on Halloween break. So with robbers and hold-up men, like the cell phone robbers who ply their trade all over the city and have probably multiplied as fast as the number of cell phone subscribers in the country. They’d do anything for a cell phone – one victim who was caught texting at a bus stop was shot dead when he refused to let go of his cell phone.

On the other hand, be very afraid of text maniacs who text while they’re driving. One such maniac drove smack into a group of bystanders and sent one of them straight to the ICU. The text maniac managed to escape. We’d like to send this message to him: The long arms of the law will catch up with you someday.

People are afraid of the rumors that are currently going around. Is it true that the AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) scare is back? This time, they’re sticking AIDS-infected needles in ATM machines and on seats in moviehouses.

We’re afraid everytime we hear news of another peso devaluation. Because everytime the peso goes down, the prices of consumer goods go up tenfold. Really horrible and despicable are those profit-oriented supermarket owners who take advantage of the situation and put new price tags even on old items bought at pre-devaluation prices. Now, that makes us consumers really mad!

Even our water bills have considerably gone up. From last month’s P300 something, it’s gone up to P700 something. We wonder how Manila Water came up with such a horrendous figure when we don’t remember anyone coming to read our meter. To add insult to injury, when it rains and gets flooded, there’s water everywhere except in our faucets.

We’re afraid (nay, shocked) everytime we get our pay checks. There’s nothing left after deducting all those taxes and loans. There’s so much month left at the end of the money. What makes it more sad is we don’t even know where our taxes are going. Road improvement? Why, it took decades before the streets in our neighborhood were paved! Basic services? Until now, there’s no water in certain areas in Parañaque.

We’re afraid and very worried everytime the garbage collector does not drop by our place to collect our piling garbage that’s starting to look like a Smokey Mountain – now, that’s a real nightmare! Reminds us of one newshen who once said that in the next local polls, she’ll vote for any candidate, whoever he or she may be, provided he or she will collect the garbage every day. It’s the least he/she can do.

People are afraid of venturing into the streets lest they get robbed or assaulted. Or run over by reckless drivers. Or slowly get killed by the toxic fumes coming out of those smoke-belching public utilities.

Motorists are afraid of all sorts of criminal elements, including the corrupt men in uniform, lurking in the city. Lady drivers, who seem to be the favorite targets, are particularly wary.

We’re afraid of politicians who believe in their own press (praise) releases.

Now, that’s really scary, isn’t it?