Presumptive president Rodrigo Duterte has hit the ground running and judging from his actuations thus far, I have no regrets choosing him over the rest of the presidential candidates.
It is so unlike six years ago when then-presumptive president Noynoy Aquino seemed to be lost in the intriguing come-from-behind victory of Jejomar Binay over his heir-apparent, then Sen. Mar Roxas. We did not hear much from him days after the elections unlike now when the nation is abuzz with what change really means for this country of 100 million.
And using the parking situation at SM City Cebu as a gauge, Duterte will have to wield a tighter fist once he sits in Malacañang.
Consider this: as I approached my parking spot at the third level of the mid-rise parking in the huge mall, 10 drivers of cars of all kinds—from a decades-old beat-up Toyota Corolla to a flashy new Toyota Fortuner—were using their hazard lights while parking on sections of the driveway in front and ahead of where I parked, seemingly oblivious to their selfishness and much to the dismay of security guards who could not do anything lest the mall lose these uncouth but nonetheless “valued” customers.
SM City Cebu has four floors of parking, so ample that the management opens only the first two levels in the morning and then gradually open more levels as the need arises.
Clearly, two more levels were already opened as I walked to my car coming in via the cinemas near the SM Trade Hall at 1 p.m. yesterday.
So why do these drivers insist on parking on the driveway, much to the inconvenience of other cars coming in from the spiral ramp looking for free parking spots?
I waited for 10 minutes to check if these cars were loading or unloading. Not one of them was. Other cars coming in even honked their horns for those cars near the ramp to move on, to no avail.
This is not something unique to SM City Cebu. It also goes on at the Ayala Center Cebu. And it makes me wonder whether these are former jeepney or taxi drivers so used to abusive driving who were hired by rich car owners.
This problem with personalizing space is one problem that many Filipinos have that was so graphically demonstrated yesterday: 1. They cannot delay gratification. They would rather cause inconvenience to others rather than follow rules like driving farther on and finding the logically correct parking bay because they want to be right there on that spot where they are as it is nearest to where they want to be, even if this was a driveway that should be left open. They think once they park, they have a right to the spot where they are as long as they can get away with it. The guy behind this uncouth Filipino sees this and follows suit because anyway the hazard lights will be a good defense and one can also get away with it the way the other drivers do.
This is what meets a Duterte presidency: well-educated but ill-disciplined Filipinos who simply lost any decency and who do not care even if they inconvenience other Filipinos.
During the campaign period, in fact, I saw so many public and private vehicles sporting “Duterte for President” stickers driving like there was no tomorrow or that they owned the road and could do all kinds of maneuvers with their motorcycles, taxis, jeepneys, multicabs and all kinds of private cars.
This prompted me to print out my own sticker with the line ‘CHANGE IS COMING! Pagtarong Na’g Drive Diha!” to no avail.
We have had so much of exuberant democracy to the point that we think we can do anything we want as long as we occupy the space we are on.
This has to change. And it is not Rodrigo Duterte who will start that change. It has to start from all of us.
Otherwise, we will be back to square one a year from now, calling for change once again. Duterte is but symbolic of the change we all want: a disciplined, courteous and law-abiding Filipino citizenry. But to let him do it alone is sheer folly. Change must begin with each of us.
So to all those uncouth and ill-disciplined Cebuanos out there, your time to change is long overdue. Pagtarong na intawn mo uy!