EDITORIAL - Forever at the mercy of ruthless drivers

The arrest of a taxi driver in Manila who was caught on video harassing and threatening his passengers in an argument over fare has prompted cheers from those who, at one time or another, experienced a situation very similar to the one that has gone viral on the Internet. That his victims intend to press charges against him have made other victims cheer even harder.
That at the time of his arrest the driver already wore a meeker and more contrite face did not the least bit inspire sympathy and compassion from a public long used to being on the receiving end of  these arrogant and abusive breed of public transport providers. The driver only felt subdued because of the trouble he now finds himself in. But in the video of him taken by his passengers, there was not the slightest trace of  human meekness in him. He was a beast ready to pounce and harm.
But the feeling of being avenged by the comeuppance of the driver is not likely to stay long and sustain whatever hope may have been inspired in the hearts of the public by his arrest. The driver is just a drop in the ocean of malevolent souls in the public land transport sector. There are so many more public utility drivers who prey on, abuse, threaten, and otherwise endanger the lives of those they are entrusted to convey safely and comfortably to their destinations.
Even those drivers who do not go to the extent of threatening their passengers have other ways of abusing a public from whom they earn their living. Indeed, the argument between that driver in Manila and his passengers was about fare. The passengers innocently thought what they owed the driver was what the taxi meter showed, as what the law provides. But the driver demanded more, insisting they had agreed on a contracted price.
And that is precisely one of the most common means by which taxi drivers abuse their passengers. And it is not only common in Manila. It is common everywhere, including Cebu. Try catching a taxi ride outside the port area in Cebu City, say, outside Pier One. You will be extremely lucky if you catch a ride based on the meter. Most drivers will only agree to conduct passengers based on a contracted price.
If you cannot strike a deal, you will not be given a ride. Other drivers insist on a preferred destination, say, Lapu-Lapu City. This is so because the driver wants to take on more than one fare. He will try to get as many fares as he can who are all bound for Lapu-Lapu City, demanding from each of them a specified amount. No deal, no ride.
This is how it is in the public land transport sector. And it goes on unchecked because the authorities in charge of such matters simply do not care. They only shake a leg when something becomes a public issue. And then they move real fast. When the video of that driver in Manila went viral in the morning, it did not take the authorities long to arrest him. They had him in time for the news in the evening.