By Leyn “Nyle” Ferrer
soon sink in.”
History awaits, not in awe for another momentous event, but in ruin and disdain.
It is necessary to possess the funds needed to afford a crucial mechanism to keep an operation running, correct? What then if the money you have is barely enough to sustain even your everyday expenses? Of course you’d pour all that you have — which is unfortunately inadequate — on what you already have to keep yourself, and those you care about alive.
So why is it that jeepney drivers, barely living off the minimum, are the ones forced to undergo modernization when those who own private vehicles have more means to successfully partake in the change to more environment-friendly options? Are these efforts of “modernization” truly for the environment and the livelihood of these workers, or for the gain of bigger companies that are selling these advertised e-jeepneys?
Just compensation for such endeavors isn’t even met with the government’s own budget. The drivers and operators themselves have to answer for this switch in modes of transportation. That hardly seems fair, especially since this project is of the government’s — not the drivers’. Let’s not start with attempting to satisfy the “international standards” when the standards of our own people are being overlooked or thrown under the bus.
I digress — perhaps there is a bit of hostility in the tone asserted. However, the lack of consideration towards these people barely scraping by does not only affect them and their livelihood, but to those who benefit and utilize their services who are also hanging on fragile threads with their finances amidst inflation.
My friend has shared her encounter with the transport issue as an effect of the strike in Pampanga. It took four jeepneys filled to the opening, and passengers’ bottoms splitting open until she managed to get herself an uncomfortable ride back home. Before, it would take just one jeepney waiting for more passengers to house — a less than five-minute wait — to take off and be on its way.
The scene is different here in Baguio. Its population has gotten so dense that with or without a jeepney strike, you’d still be left wondering if a jeepney would have space left spared for you.
However, with the increasing population in other places, such as where I am from, this is truly no longer just an issue, but an approaching crisis the longer this negligence occurs.
On a more culturally-focused basis, jeepneys have been the Philippines’ national symbol; the foundation of the transport system. “Kings of the Road.” Heeding the modernization efforts would mean mini-buses instead of the jeepneys we’ve painted our histories as Filipinos in. Every single one taking on a generic, white or light beige color upon its metal body. While this is a redeemable setback, considering a scenario wherein efforts would be lent to ensuring that the now modern jeepneys would be decorated with art’s magic, it is rather obscene to throw away a significant part of our culture faster than this shift will ever come into fruition.
History is waiting in ruin and disdain. Not only that, jeepneys are operating on the impending doom that awaits them, simmering on the thought of the debt they’ll soon sink in.
Unless this program considers other avenues, instead of simply modernizing jeepneys without fully involving other means of transportation, and weighing in both drivers and their passengers…
The question is… would the Philippines be ready for that transformation in transportation, when the government felt that the country needed to undergo this change without consulting those who would take the brunt of the consequences?
Promises have already been broken. Improvement of transportation in the Philippines was supposed to be accompanied with the modernization measures, and yet we’re left with more problems at our feet.
What now?**
