The FX Taxi Ride (Part I)

They think the comman man knows nothing. Nope. A weird experience while we were on the road from vacation proves that the common Filipino knows a lot, and the government's attempts to hide their dark motives is a total failure.

Who would have though an ordinary ride on a for-hire FX taxi would reveal much information about how the people feel about certain trivial things nowadays. This is "kwentong-barbero" to the next level.

It was already kinda late when we left from Baguio. So we arrived around 10pm in Caloocan, where we took an FX taxi going to Malolos. People are a bit tired already, and most people going home have already spent the rest of the day dealing with pressure. It's quite expected that people would just spend the extra hour to sleep, chat or relax on the way.

There were three guys on the middle seat, the driver, me and Elmo at the back. The guys (who looked mid30ish) were talking about the usual stuff: women, gadgets, and powertripping at work. Their voices were raised to a level as if they were the only ones in the FX, but we didn't mind since I was listening to my iPod then, and Elmo's enjoying listening to the three. The driver seemed not to mind also.

Things got a bit interesting,though, as the taxi began to move from the terminal. Randy (See? I remember the name of the guy!) opened up the topic about the seige that happened in Bicutan seige. Seems like the phrase "Ano sa palagay mo, pare...?" is one of the most interesting Filipino phrases ever made- it never fails to ignite an intense debate session. Too bad there's no beer that time to really heat things up.

"Sa palagay ko, pare, cover up ang nangyari. Biruin mo, lahat ng mga de-kalibreng lider ng Abu Sayyaf, naipon sa isang lugar, at napatay lahat sa isang lusuban lang..."

"Oo nga, pre. At saka sino ba namang tanga ang maghahamon ng gulo sa gobyerno kung ang hawak mo lang na armas eh paltik at alam mong ang susugod sa yo eh di basta-bastang mga pulis lang?"

This is when I turned off my iPod since Elmo gave me a signal that I might want to engage my attention to this developing discussion.

Elmo butts in. "Ganyan talaga ang gobyerno. Sa bawa't magandang ipinapakita nila, me maaamoy ka laging lansa..." Nice one. "Hindi naman natin maiwasan. Kasi nga, dati nang malalansa ang mga involved sa kaso."

"At dati nang may lansa sa sistema," Paul replied. "Kahit anong pabango ang ilagay mo dyan, malansa pa rin," said Randy.

"Ang akala kasi ng mga nasa itaas, porke't hinahainan tayo ng magaganda sa balita, eh tatanggapin na lang natin agad-agad. Yung karamihan siguro- oo. 'Madaling utuin ang mga yan! Ipakita mong nag-amok sila sa Bicutan, tapos tapusin silang lahat!' Sino'ng panalo kahit saan mo tingnan? Gobyerno, di ba?"

Mr. Driver enters the scene. "Oo nga. Panalo sila. Patayin ba naman ang lahat ng mga talagang maraming alam sa corruption behind-the-scenes na nangyari nung panahong uso pa ang kidnapping at maraming negotiations na pinag-usapan. Bakit nga naman bibigyan pa sila ng pagkakataong kumanta?"

I see these people as ordinary Filipino folks. They don't even seem to belong to the middle-class. (Later, we discovered Randy had just quit his job as a security guard in Caloocan bank, and was, then, looking for another job.) Yet, they seem to be able to "read between the lines". They are the present-day Filipinos: aware and frustrated by the system. I was thinking... "My God! Are they reading my blog?!" Teeheehee... This was the point when I grabbed Elmo's cellphone and desperately tried to get notes by composing a text message that can be saved later... We have not reached the NLEX Balintawak exit yet. I predicted there will be no sleeping in the FX taxi during the whole travel home.

To be continued...