Try as one might, it is sometimes just so hard to wrap one’s head around this phenomenon. Picture yourself standing at the entrance of a waiting multicab, poised to enter. Thing is, it’s already filled with passengers except for one or two vacant seats behind the driver. The people seated by the doorway ignore you, acting like the stone-faced sentinels in Luneta before Rizal’s monument, while inside, the other seated passengers also look like opposite rows of mannequins.
As it is, their unconcerned demeanor becomes the clear giveaway which tells you, if you want to ride, you have to pass through all of us because we’re not budging one bit.
So with that, and desperate as you are to get to your destination, you enter and begin to weave through all the knees and whatever bags everyone has at their laps, until you finally arrive and squeeze into the vacant spot in back of the driver. As luck would have it, you might even be seated right where your feet would be propped atop the spare tire on the floor, the standard layout with some public utility vehicles.
Welcome to what it’s like commuting in Davao City. If in case, you have already visited other places around the country, you might then notice, what we have here is dubious but unique, and directly opposite other traits qualifying as Davao pride. This ‘dedma’ mentality which pertains to I-don’t-care-about-you, I’m-only-looking-out-for-me, has already become so well-integrated into the local neo-Filipino culture, it’s almost like auto-pilot.
Once you’re already aboard and en route, luckily, another peeve might rear its ugly head, the guy beside you is watching his favorite anime in Tagalog, with volume so loud, you just sit and wonder, is he hard at hearing or just proud of his phone’s great speaker? Whenever this happens, I am always tempted to ask: bay, you might want to use headphones or do you have any?
However, this approach could also bring about the I-don’t-care-about-you response. The guy might answer back, what do you care, so that arguments might follow. With your intention of not trying to rock the boat (or the multicab), you just simply ignore the noisy young neighbor and bear it.
Again, let’s go back to reading the title and ask yourself, which one is it? My old friend says GMRC. The educational system may have stiffed us good, we’re prone to ask: do the schools still have the equivalent to that long-ago required subject, Good Manners & Right Conduct, or has that become one of those classified Jurassic remnants of the past which now intrude into the rights of the woke?
