"Habal-habal" operation has to be regulated

Those of us who live along the shorelines of our country know what is a “pump boat”. It is the vessel, usually with outriggers and run by an engine built inboard, that we usually take in going to different islands. Many of us though have lost trace how it got its name.

I understand that before the “pump boat” became the main mode of small time inter-island transportation, our earlier generations used sailboats to mean literally that their vessels had to be powered by the force of the wind blowing against the sails they raised.

Shortly after the Second World War, we started using machines to pump water from the ground. American companies introduced engine brands “Briggs and Stratton”, “Clinton” and “Wisconsin”. Somewhere along the way, an ingenious guy thought of adapting the machine from pumping ground water to driving his boat by attaching a shaft and putting some kind of a propeller at the end in such a way that when the engine was run, the propeller churned and moved the boat forward. Because the engine was originally used to pump ground water, he called his adaptation the “pump boat”. And the rest is history.

When the Land Transportation and Traffic Code was enacted in the 60’s, there were very few motorcycles. Most of those we saw were in the movies. The war films showed motorcycles of the German army, with side cars and yes, there was Steve McQueen, in the picture “The Great Escape”, on this two-wheeled vehicle driving through rugged terrains and eluding arrests.

The motorcycles were so few that on Philippine roads, we rarely saw them. Because of their negligible number, the framers of the traffic code failed to include in the law provisions to regulate their use. They did not anticipate that motorcycles would, years ahead, become a very important public conveyance.

Years after the passage of the traffic code, the ingenuity of the Filipino who made the first “pump boat” crept into the mind of someone else. This time, he attached to his motorcycle the side car that he saw from the war movies and offered his services to transport people on it. Thus, was born the tricycle.

There are many parts of the country that are not accessible by good roads. No PUJs can reach them. The tricycle cannot also be depended upon to go to these distant, mountainous, places. To these areas, the motorcycle, without side car, is the most convenient form of transportation.

The discovery of the use of the motorcycle was purely accidental. If I understand the resourcefulness of the Filipino, one day, an enterprising motorcycle owner offered to bring someone to a far flung place for a fee. The passenger had to straddle over the motorcycle like something I cannot write here, which in Cebuano sounds like habal. The idea clicked and so many other owners followed to begin the fee-oriented service called “habal-habal”.

CITOM chief, and former City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem was correct in his observation. In a recent interview, he said that the “habal-habal” is already a necessity. It is easy and more importantly, quick. While the jeepneys use longer standby time to wait for enough load of passengers before embarking on a travel, the “habal-habal” needs only a passenger or two to make the trip.

Throughout the land, thousands of “habal-habals” exist. In their operations, thousands, too, have been injured and maimed in various forms of accidents as there were others who met untimely deaths. The only way to minimize the risks to drivers and passengers of this form of transportation is to pass regulatory ordinances.  In Congress, I understand, there are at least, three bills of similar regulatory thrusts, pending. This is a clear recognition of the fact that without any form of regulation, the operation of the motorcycle as “habal-habal” exposes many to grave dangers.

Hon. Jakosalem might just have been very cautionary. What he probably wanted to mean was that the Traffic Code does not prohibit the “habal-habal” because these motorcycles did not yet exist as a form of public transportation when it was enacted.

CITOM should encourage the city council to be pro-active like the Sanggunian Panlalawigan where, Hon. Teddy Ouano is sponsoring a kindred regulatory measure. We need an ordinance regulating “habal-habal” so that measures protective of the drivers and passengers may be provided. Anyway, if anyone doubts its legality, he can always go to court whose decisions will be useful guide for all.

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