Jeepeney Drivers
– Jeepney driving requires skill ( not anyone can be one, if you wanna consider a career like this, think again)
Requires: (sipag at tiyaga) determination, articulation, math skills, tenacity, patience, alertness, and being able to get well with the looters. These drivers are victims. As with my recent encounter with a poor jeepney driver who was asked to pay these so called yelling men who don’t even own the road so why do they demand payment for calling the passengers, not paying would mean that the jeepney driver is banned to wait on his self assigned jeepney loading station and worse hit the windshield or destroy physically the jeepney.
I. Jeepeney as part of our everyday’s life
-Transportations road of the masses, the proletarians like me, some of the bourgeois/ rich prefer not to ride one because of the safety reasons, comfort, and the pollution. But of you want to save, 7 pesos for 4 kilometers would help a lot but that would entail your life because:
-Life of the passengers lies on the driver, no choice once we ride one we can’t choose
II. Struggle
-Drivers strive for a loving, and in most cases they have to pay the boundary. A representation of the isang kahig isang tuka attitude of the Pinoys.
-Situations: traffic: extreme heat, weather conditions, not enough passengers and lately I realized that these drivers are victims:
1. Polics kotongs
2. Vendors- ask money from the passengers in the end drivers sacrifice to give alms to leave passengers alone.
2. From the yelling boys- a new discovery. Where did this job description even started? Annoyed by them.
III. Conclusion
-Not everyone can be jeepney drivers. (basta driver sweet lover)
-Can discuss a little of the history after ww2-Its evolution and the Filipini ingenuity
The Jeepney driver and a call boy
The jeepney has been a common form of transportation of the Filipino masses or the proletarians. It is everything Filipino aside from the fact that it’s cheap, it’s accessible and it has become part of every average Juan’s daily life. Some of bourgeois and the upper class prefer not to ride the Philippines’s King of the Road because of safety reasons (if you know what I mean), discomfort (when full is like a can of sardines) and the pollution (some jeepneys are smoke belchers) from the environment.
Being a member of the lower class I took a jeepney and sat on the front seat on my way home one night. As I sit beside the driver I attentively observed how he maneuvered the steering wheel, accepted the money from the passengers, shifted gears, computed and gave change to the passengers simultaneously sans effort. The eight kilometer trip way home made me realize that this guy ain’t got an easy job. Although you don’t need to pass a test to become one, being a jeepney driver really requires some serious skills that I think they learn along the way in order to survive the locomotive jungle of the Metropolitan Manila. You need articulation, determination, alertness, preciseness, tenacity, accuracy not to mention patience and a strong will.
In the middle of our course the jeepney stopped to unload more passengers on a stopping point. I was astounded when I saw a young man approach the driver and asked for money. This was the man who was shouting the destination of the jeepney. He was there standing effortlessly inviting more people to ride the jeepney. He didn’t do anything, just to shout and say “sakay, sakay sakay” meaning to ride. Since when did this career started and what right does it have to own the stopping point as if it were some property to be rented by the drivers passing by? Who gave the law stating that the jeepney driver must pay him? I just felt sad for the poor driver seeing that he was indeed a victim not only to the traffic enforcers but to those I don’t know what you call them maybe “call boys” who don’t invest anything but their voices shouting even earning maybe more than the drivers who work hard all day.
Some of you might not understand the situation because you might not have tried riding a jeepney in your entire life. But what I’m trying to say is that this is a sad reality. The perfect image of the “isang kahig isang tuka” situation of most of Filipino families. I am not really sure whether I am writing about the glory or being a driver or my sentiments against the so called call boys, their abuse and how they should be put to jail. But all I want to say is that I really appreciate their humble job being in charge of the safety and lives of the passengers, the injustice from the traffic enforcers, and the taking advantage of the call boys. Despite all his problems, the jeepney driver still goes on with his route tirelessly everyday whistling a happy tune, greeting passengers, and giving out a sweet smile and as they say “basta driver sweet lover” attitude.
The tales of a tour guide 