The Filipino Setting

By: Aaron Testado

I saw people on the streets as I am above at the 2^nd floor of the building. I wonder how my countrymen moving around the streets.

Motorcycles and cars alike are going crazy side by side; I think it’s because of the busy schedule of my countrymen. I saw a kid vending a banana on a stick (Banana cue) then while he’s doing that he is drinking a cup of juice then he throw the cup on the street. An officer (traffic officer) on the other hand are restlessly swaying his hand pointing for direction and guiding people when to cross, while the vehicles are moving crazy. The sidewalks are occupied by cars and jeepneys that’s why people are using the motorway for sidewalks. Some did not know that the sidewalks are meant for people and not for vehicle parking. A child around five years old is playing near the streets as the vehicles are passing by restlessly.

The local government on the other hand has implemented a traffic regulation to protect lives of people and to discourage restless drivers, but what is sad, it is not properly implemented. Implementation is the problem nowadays as people saw it as harassment because they are not use to it. Public utility driver who, in someway violated a certain regulation use to pay hideously at the traffic officer than to pay for the ticket because of the long lines at the payment center. PUV driver are busy that they cannot wait for a long line because they have a stomach to feed and a vehicle to pay for the boundary (daily payment for a public vehicle if the driver is not the owner of the said vehicle).

While on the other hand people don’t know about garbage problem because they lack information about what may happen to their environment, some or mostly know about it but the problem is lack of available trashcan at public places and on the streets. These are the problems we are facing my countrymen.

I visited some country abroad and I saw my countrymen as followers, they are unique and different from other foreigners as they are mostly aware about a certain regulation abroad. They followed traffic regulations and the law but they are aware that in their own country this is not the case.

I am saddened about the gravity of the situation here in the Philippines, Sometimes I am thinking that the government is allowing people what they want to do. This is a place of anarchy with certain laws. We are expressing our freedom dominantly than of the government impose laws on us. I am not here to just write a story about what went wrong on the Philippine setting. I write this so that others will know what I can see that others can’t.

I saw people in the government tolerating this problem for their political advancement. But my teacher told me that “Country first before myself” because it is not our own advancement will push this country but with political will, our own initiatives and our binding as one nation……..We hand on hand can create a great nation.