I returned from my short trip to Spain to find out that certain rules on parking and the easement zones of the village where I live in Cebu City have been changed, or perhaps more appropriately, have been implemented to the letter.
At past midnight, I arrived to see all the streets of the village so pleasantly empty of the usual parked cars, some of which make you wonder if the driver really knew how to drive, let alone park his or her car. (There was a time in the recent past when things like this happened but then they ceased just as suddenly as they had started. And now with a new set of officers, it has restarted.)
Gone, for example, were the two cars parked across each other near the corner going to the village clubhouse—a glaring example of double-parking that you see so often in the many streets of Metro Cebu. Every time I pass that street, I wondered why the car owners don’t just agree to park on one side instead of narrowing the street further.)
Gone too was a car that was so awkwardly—or so tangentially—parked outside a white-painted gate of a house on the main street such that its rear tires were always on the street while its front appeared ready to strike at the gate. I had always wondered why the driver could not park parallel to the gate when there was still much room to maneuver.
The scene of utter emptiness on the streets in the village was almost surreal. The village that I had lived in since 2004 was suddenly so different from when I left it three weeks ago. Also somewhat different was A.S. Fortuna Street in Mandaue City where we passed by on the way home from the airport, now completely paved over. I say somewhat because I espied some private vehicles now parked on those recently cemented outer lanes, making me ask myself, “Did we really go through a full year of cursing about all that road repair only to end up having private cars park on the very lanes that were paved using our taxes? Are we really widening roads so that they become private parking lots?”
It’s been barely a week since our elected officials in this village started implementing rules that impose a fine on anyone who parks on the streets. And from what I hear (and see from at least two houses), not all are happy, especially of course those who built houses with a two- or three-car garage but probably got wealthier along the way and bought more cars than their garages can accommodate. Or maybe like our household, some relatives with cars have come to live with those already there.
Whatever the case, these next few weeks as the debate (and the rage in some or a few) make our village an interesting point of reference for any of the cities and towns in Metro Cebu on the issue of traffic enforcement and human behavior, or more appropriately, Filipino behavior.
Take the case of my niece who went to the village office bringing with her a cellphone photo of her car parked outside our gate on the driveway where the sidewalk would have been. There are those who have started to ask what this fine (200 pesos for parking on the streets overnight) and this whole issue of road easement have to do with their private and personal right to park wherever they please.
Her mother must have taught her well because, after calmly making her point heard, she told the village official that she would pay the fine and not scold the security guard who ticketed her since he was only enforcing the law.
Her mom told me that as she left, there were others who were also there to complain but smiled sheepishly at her.
At the end of the day, if the fine is indeed within the bounds of the laws that village homeowners agreed to in a referendum, then there is no recourse but to enforce it.
Such is the dilemma of Metro Cebu where we have so many laws that are intended to ensure that we behave properly on the streets. The problem is enforcement. And as a result, some get away with it making all others who seriously follow such rules seethe in anger. Why can’t we all just follow traffic rules? The jeepney and taxi drivers misbehave because they have to make money?
Baloney! Everyone in this world is trying to earn a living, not just those pesky, rude jeepney and taxi drivers!
At my village, we have a tiny version of what Lee Kuan Yew started to do to Singapore in the mid-1970s: Ensure strict enforcement of laws which would eventually change behavior patterns, no matter if people resist at first.
If these officials do succeed in this village, then there is hope that stricter enforcement will probably work in Cebu. But if this unintended social experiment fails, then perhaps some people really just love chaos and, writ large, we should just stop thinking that the Cebuano motorist can change for the better.