It’s good to be able to focus on some positive things. I’m not going to overstate anything as there is still a long way to go. All you can do with a bad situation is to attempt to improve it. After small improvements have been made then go through it again and improve further. I think the same theory applies to many things from politics to improving your home.
The case in point for the purposes of this discussion is transportation. The topic here is train travel in Metro Manila. With public transportation, there have been some improvements of late. It may be a reflection of general improvements affecting other aspects of the Philippines or not. Transportation is a crucial aspect in how well a nation fares and how much it is progressing. If the small improvements being made in transportation are any indicators as to how well the country is progressing, then the summary would be slowly. It’s getting there, but at a snail’s pace. It could be fair to say that that is the current state of the Philippines but for purposes of this piece, let’s stick to train travel.
It’s still not there yet but better and in a country where a few years ago I had no hope, I will say now I see these small improvements making a small difference and sincerely hope that the usual attitude of giving up does not come back and that they persevere.
Somehow, I think that if I’m still blogging in the next few years, train transportation in Metro Manila is something I will be returning to. It may not be a reflection on all aspects of the Philippines but it does seem to me that there is a will to improve the quality of life. My hope is, every time I return to pieces I’ve previously written about, that I shall be reporting improvements. In some areas, I can say that’s happening, and in others, it’s not.
The Common Sense Factor
No, the service hasn’t been vamped up. There are not masses of extra trains and it’s still very far from perfect. Still, it’s good to see that some rare common sense is being used by the train company authorities. Common sense is not much in abundance in the Philippines so when you see it happening, it just gives you a little hope. Discipline and the lack of it has been something I was very quickly made aware of when I first came here. It continued over many of the years I had been spending time being in the Philippines and I was of the mind that thought nothing will change as it sometimes appeared that the simple lack of common sense was killing any hope of any general improvements.
I used to find myself saying that it will never change as, if you can’t master basic common sense then where can you go, how can you improve things generally.
I intend to go through previously discussed topics and measure things against how I spoke at the time of writing them previously. Basically, I’m using my own observations and sentiments as a very loose barometer. The focus here is on MRT/LRT systems, or in short, trains. Nothing much has happened other than some enforced common sense. I really felt the all-round lack of it was probably the main reason train travel was such a stressful experience in the past.
It’s my belief that the cure for many ills in this country is the introduction of common sense. Without it, how can anything develop?
Start thinking before you start acting. The changes and improvements in train travel are purely down to the application of a little common sense. It’s something that an outsider would observe in a very short time. Common sense has never been taught. People just don’t have it. I feel the people badly want things to improve.
Common sense is missing from the everyday culture here in the Philippines. Generation to generation nobody gets taught it. That’s been a huge feature of my time here knowing that it’s so missing with Filipinos. I came to realise that if it’s never taught, nobody will have it. It’s the first step towards improving the Philippines.
It’s hard to define exactly what I’m saying but it really needs to come from the top. When I say top I mean authorities in general. It seemed that authorities didn’t possess much common sense either so I wasn’t hopeful at times. When common sense is enforced as it has been at the LRT/MRT stations, then you detect that people embrace it. I don’t hear moaning when they wait in long queues. It’s as if they realise that a long queue is better than a daily stampede. They are craving to be led by some common sense.
Long queues outside North Avenue MRT station but people accepted the need for order without too much complaint. (Photo courtesy of Connie Diegor)
It was surprising just how people readily accepted it and the simple fact that they accepted it so quietly told me they possibly had some sense of common sense after all. Train authorities showing the way is a small part of introducing a little common sense into Filipino everyday life.
When I last wrote about train travel in Metro Manila in a piece called Train Trials, I reported that some changes were being introduced. It consisted of implementing obvious basics as the first thing they needed to do was make the platforms safe and enforce some general courtesy. It was so sadly lacking in the past. So much pushing and shoving, ill manners and selfishness were totally out of hand. The minority set the standard and the majority had little choice but to behave just as badly or they would be left behind. It’s something you see in so many aspects of Filipino life. The lack of common sense even if from a significant minority influences how people who know better will behave. It becomes a domino effect of insanity. It blights so many aspects of Filipino life.
It may not be because everyone wants to behave as the significant minority do; it’s just that they end up with having no choice. If people simply barge in front you and refuse to form lines and exercise no patience whatsoever, you end up permanently at the back of the queue. The only way in the end is to join in with the bumping and barging.
I often wondered how people would respond by being forced to show some common sense. By all accounts they are mostly getting it on the MRT/LRT. There are still some arseholes that haven’t got the message yet but the majority is starting to have things how they probably wanted things to be all along. It needed some enforced order so badly and for many years I saw no signs of it and had no hope. The MRT/LRT is actually implementing some common sense practices. It’s helping a lot.
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