I was once had a long chat with a Manila visitor in one local mall and like many other non-homies, he was candid about their experience here in the city. Aside from heaping tons of positive things to say about our food, fruits and exciting places to visit, he mentioned a few negatives that are like tiny thorns at one’s sides.
I wasn’t at all surprised his first complaint in their Davao visit was our worsening traffic situation in the city. Because they have opted for a full experience of traveling like the ordinary Dabawenyo, he and his companion had mostly used public transport to commute daily from their northside hotel to check out what the attractions and activities in the downtown district were and even traversed the opposite side to reach as far as Kapatagan, mostly Googling their way to our other mountain resorts.
Both of them agreed that while they were all praises for what they’ve seen and experienced first-hand, one of the spoilers in their trips was being stuck in endless jams while getting to their targets. In the downtown areas for example, where the traffic was worse, they had on occasion suffered the misfortune of being stuck inside one of those jampacked multicabs which proved so uncomfortable, especially when on had many things to carry. Their bus rides, though made more comfortable with great air-conditioning that successfully beat the heat outside, were however marred by noise from several riders who loudly played in their mobile phones music, sit-coms and other game programs. At the latter, I could only offer my complete agreement. Out of all the other discomforts, it was by far the easiest to solve. While tackling the city’s traffic problem and having more comfortable means of transportation take a longer time and clearly out of our control despite their already being in the works, why can’t the use of headphones in public vehicles be made mandatory by local authorities? After all, I argued that Davao has a similar ordinance, refraining everyone from against playing loud music after ten in the evening so that fellow residents could have their rest. Isn’t a related ordinance against loud playing of electronic devices also possible in the future?
Even as I have written about this as being a major pet peeve, it’s looking into the faces of those who nonchalantly play their phones loudly inside crowded spaces which get to me totally. It’s really unbelievable how they could even possess an utter lack of empathy toward other people they are disturbing. It’s even pointless to think probably they’re not aware of this. I’ve heard many times behaviors of this sort are frowned upon in many countries like Japan. Sadly however, I’ve likewise heard the “go live in Japan then” counter thrown at me with almost equal frequency.
In the end, I’m leaving this at that. I neglect to mention I too, have at countless times, witnessed the faces of some people inside tightly-packed L-500s totally at peace amid all discomforts, all because of headphones or ear pods. Go figure.
