By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
Now that the rainy season has come, life for the common Filipino, no matter how hard or unbearable it was before, will only get worse. We have already surmised the lackluster and almost non-existent defense against flooding due to the previous flood control scandal. But even the common denominator for all ordinary people, perhaps the most common and popular practice in the country, the riding of jeepneys, won’t be safe from the invasion of cold waters from the rain. Passengers with drenched clothes will be clumped together like sardines and people will just have to suck it up.
Just earlier this day, we had to make do with a packed jeepney. Seeing as this was the first one in some time, we could not take our chances and had to hang on the door instead, come what may from being drenched. The other choice was to go back to waiting for a jeepney under the rain and gamble on being late to our destination.
The rainy season always exposes any problems that have been swept under the rug. Any roofing job that has been done haphazardly will show holes. Construction work that has been done in a skint manner will unravel itself. The lacking number of waiting sheds around our neighborhoods is only highlighted further. And the punishment for the lackluster defense against flooding will be imposed only upon the poor.
But hardship will not only be seen during the early hours. Even the late hours, when people are going home, they will have to deal with the afternoon rains. We are lucky to have a bit of shelter in our jeepney stations to help us in hiding from the rain. But what of our fellow Filipinos who must carry huge loads. Those who work so far from their respective stations and those with no shelter as they wait in line. Everyone will start going through this tenuous and frustrating motions the whole rainy season. Not to mention all the people who will eventually get sick fom running on the rain.
Come June 8, then even the younger commuters will join in the rush.
Then we have the people who are supposed to do something about this already olden cycle fail to even show up at work. Pettiness drives them to contest each other and put on tantrums in the face of the public. They all get to perform their theatrics in dry clothes and go home without having to fall in line.
After all the seasons of rain that washed over us, the problems exposed have never been more clear. They keep on parroting their promises. Just like chickens, they have scheduled announcements every day, but not a hint of credibility is within them.
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