Tricycle of Manila

Totok of Bangkok

I find a very close similarity between these two mediums of transport in these two different Asian cities.

Both are three-cycled vehicles. Both have almost the same design, materials used in their construct and finishing touches. Both are micro-taxis that can deliver us to the very gates or doors where we wanted to go.

But there are also differences I see, toktok has more space than the Metro Manila’s tricycle.  On travelling, our tricycle cannot traverse the big national roads, such as EDSA, while toktok can travel in the main thorough fares of Bangkok and can even go to it’s Central Business Districts.

While riding the tricycle earlier and remembering my toktok ride, I had the following spontaneous reflections…

Journeying in these transportations is quite risky because those compete with bigger and more powerful vehicles. There is danger of being hit by cars and big public utility such as the jeepneys and the buses.  Yet we depend and trust the expert drivers of these cities’ micro-transportations.

Same as with our lives’ journeys, we encounter along the way more powerful and greater challenges than we are, but we are assured by depending on the expert Driver, Pilot and Navigator of our lives- JESUS! With Him we can be assured of the travel as safe and sound. And if ever there will be troubles on the way He can maneuver the vehicle to the best route possible to reach our destination!

As with traveling by tricycle and toktok I just enjoy the wind and the microcosms on the way that I won’t notice riding the bigger vehicles!

So as with our life’s journey, let us just enjoy our life’s travel with Jesus!

Bloody procession!

This coming Friday is one of the most bloody Fridays of the year in the Philippines. This bloody day, a part of the Lenten Season is planned – infact there is people exodus going on in the major cities to have both religious and grand weekend long vacation to visit families and to see bloody bodies (not by accidents but by choice).

One of the most popular visited places during this Lenten Times is the one in Maleldo, Pampanga, where selected men of the village are nailed on the cross as penitents.

Crucifixion at Maleldo, Pampanga

Why are we practicing this?

We Filipinos are cultural Christians, thinking that to do certain religious piety or make ourselves suffer will make God love or care for us more or will make Him considerate to give our prayer requests, the like of ’suertes’ for the year and good health.

To note sadly, the least that we think of during Holy Friday, even if all the processions and pious practices are around, is the real essence of God’s sacrificial act of LOVE by giving His ONLY Son to carry in Himself the sins He did not commit but ours.  So that we may be guiltless and will not suffer the painful consequence of our sins in hell!

During that time He became the BAD one not us:

• He was the cheating employee, the selfish businessman, the corrupt government official.
• He was the flirting wife, the adulterer husband, the disobedient child.
• He was the hold upper, the murderer, the drug addict, the sexual abuser.
• He was the lustful man, the self-absorbed vain lady, the extravagant yuppy.

Name all the sins we commit and those He took, was punished and died so that we can now run free from the eternal horrible penalty.

By reading this, I hope that you will appreciate that act on the CROSS by Jesus.

To end this post let me share with you a beautiful verse in the last book of the Bible: “…Jesus Christ, who is the first witness…the ruler of the kings of the earth…Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom…to serve His God and Father.” (Revelation 1: 5, 6)

The Major Oil Companies in the Philippines

I find this a very intriguing issue and scenario.  Oil price is a hot item in the news because it controls many aspects of our human lives including our regular jobs.  It affects our travel fare and the transfer and prices of our basic necessities. It affects peso’s purchasing power which directly alters the lives of employees, SME owners or entrepreneurs and OFW dependents.  That is most of us!

The oil firms  and other industries like that of transport, seem like gods here because business industries and common people are dependent on what they dictate. They seemed to even manipulate the government, one particular incident is creating the tension between DOE and NEDA. Even their supposedly public documents cannot be touched, because their monopoly might be exposed.  With the transport industry, they paralyzes the access to travel of many commuters going to work and going back home.  Until a natural disaster like Ondoy came, which made the Executive Branch of our government acted to control the oil price (for whatever reason it may have).

Jeepney is the most common form of transport in the Philippines

This weekend Petron became willing to open it’s Financial Statement!

Let me share some of my observations:

1.  Any company and industry (let me include the government agencies) or individual will protect it’s personal interest!

2.  It/they will do everything to preserve it and eliminate the problems of income impediment.  They will use any means to do it: legal way,  bargaining, falsification and harassment.  They won’t even care how others will be affected.

3.  Pag-napilay saka lang bibigay!

How about you? In your work places and in your businesses, whatever position you have, whether you are the owner, an officer, manager, supervisor, an employee in the rank and file, regular or contractual. Do you only preserve your personal interest? Don’t you care for what your boss, the people below you, your clients and colleagues go through as long as you get what you want?

Are you still waiting for the time when your personal preoccupation is exposed to your shame?  Or until the time you lose everything you are trying to gain?

Let us all be reminded that good character, worth keeping personal and business relationship and leaving behind an honorable lasting legacy is more important than personal gain only!

The good Old Book says, ‘God will judge man’s secrets’ and ‘For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.’

Another passage says, ‘A man reaps what he sows.’

*Bible references: the first line is from Romans 2: 16, the second line is from Matthew 12: 37 and the last line is from Galatians 6: 7.

I am a very itenerant person! I ride the airplane, helicopter, train, bus, powered big boat, small boat, tricycle and padyak.  I try even kayak, tok-tok, and my very own slippers.  I experience how to wait LONG hours. I watch in-flight movies one after another.  I become dizzy viewing the fast moving scenery along the way and the blue and green seas below.  I sleep hundreds and hundreds of hours along the mountains ranges and over it.  I lost my voice talking with a lot of companions on the journey and with strangers too. I get sick eating vendor-offered exotic food just to entertain myself while traveling. Travelers like me have done many, many things just to  get over the boredom along the journey.

Kahit yong pag-punta sa office at pauwi sa bahay minsan nakakainip. Marami ang nag-entertain themselves with the music in their cell phones and ipods.

Ikaw what do you do pag-naiinip ka na sa byahe?

Here are some of the things that I do:

1.  I sleep. If my sleeping schedule isn’t enough and I need to recover from exhaustion, I take the opportunity to power nap while traveling. I am just very vigilant of my few properties I carry on the journey. Ingat na ingat din ako na huwag tumulo ang laway at magka-muta!

2.  Pinapanood ko ang mga kasabay ko sa byahe. Saya! It is very entertaining. Facial and body features of people are very funny. Characteristic of fellow byaheros are very intriguing. I never get over it. It makes me smile and laugh but sometimes it also irritates me!

But the thing I enjoy the most doing in my travels is…

3.  I make a lot of reflections. During the none active moments, my mind becomes very active and productive. It is the time I see resolution to problems, see possibilities, potentials and new opportunities. I get very nice thoughts in the trivial things I see around. Most of the times while traveling I get the most insightful materials for a talk, a sermon or a seminar and I create a poem or a lyrics for a song.

Dami-dami talagang pumapasok na bagay kung walang ginagawa sa byahe. During those times my idle mind never becomes the workshop of the devil but the work place of God’s productive mind! Allow Him to make it His Craft Room!

A typical creative work room

Contrary to the preview of my next blog series, I diverted it due to the Halloween season ng katatakutan!

There are now a lot of movies & TV shows featuring scary urban legends like sightings of ghosts and dark creatures on the streets.  One of the favorite stories is the white lady sightings.

Picture taken in Bonifacio St., Caloocan with a white lady's apparition on the background.

But come to think of it, mas nakakatakot ang mga taong buhay na may masamang balak as you commute to your work places, lalaki ka man o babae.  We are all always in danger!

I have a friend who was held-up in the taxi that he hired to go to his office.  Immediately after he rode the taxi another guy jumped into the backseat and pointed a knife on his neck asking for money, he honestly said his only money was for the fare, but the hold-upper told him to take out his ATM card and withdraw from the ATM machine along the way.  While he was withdrawing, fortunately, he was a martial art student, he thought of a  technique pinning down the hold-upper to sleep. Which the driver who was an accomplish drove away fast!

What should you do to protect yourself to become a victim of such dark actions?  Here are some suggestions:

1.  Be vigilant always.  Do not wear expensive looking jewelry, you don’t need them in your work place, anyway, your crush won’t be impressed by it. Do not bring valuables, except cellphones, siempre.  As much as possible bring few cash, pamasahe na lang, meron namang malapit na ATM sa trabaho mo or most probably in your office building.

2.  If you have the finance and time, learn self-defense techniques, like what my friend did, it will be a big help!  Or you can carry pepper spray always as form of protection and learn how to use your bags or anything you are carrying to protect yourself.

3.  In riding taxi, sit on the back seats if you don’t have a company and immediately lock the doors. In a bus, choose a seat near the door and the driver, than in the middle or the back seats where the conductors seldom see.  In the jeepney, if the seat in front near the driver is available prefer that, or near the entrance-exit door (for hold-up matters, but not necessarily for accident concerns). Do not sleep as much as possible while commuting, kung kakayanin mo.  In the MRT and LRT cover the sensitive parts of your body to protect it from the mga mananamantala, unless you like it to be touched.  Also put your wallet, cellphone, ipod or iphone and psp inside your bags, don’t brag that you have those nanakawin lang nila yong mga yon. Remember that pockets are easy targets of the mandurukots.

4.  You need to bring your common sense always and be calm. If you did all the precausions and still you were caught in a hold-up incident give what they are asking for and do not fight.  You still can buy or have those things, than fight them and become a ghost yourself, which the only thing you can do is visit these bad people and scare them.

Be a responsible commuter!

Next post is about Multos in the offices!