Road bullies

On the way to the airport last Sunday night, I found myself muscled off the road by a motorcycle cop who was escorting a black van. As we ended up in the same place shortly after, I walked up to the cop as the van was unloading luggage and asked him what the hell he thought he was doing. He replied, “VIP,” which I always assumes stands for Very Insecure Prick.

When I pressed him further, reminding him that only the President, Vice President, Chief of the Armed Forces and Senate President are allowed to use sirens, he simply said, “Chinese embassy.” Great. Legalized bullying by foreigners aided and abetted by our own lawmen—and we wonder why we can’t put our foot down over the Spratlys issue...

Not that it would make it legal, but the van did not have diplomatic or embassy plates, and none of the kids that jumped out seemed old enough to work. In short, they may or may not have been from the Chinese embassy, but what was clear was that they just had a rent-a-cop to help them beat traffic. 

As soon as I posted this on the official Counterflow Facebook page, seems everyone had a tale to tell about a run-in with these VIP’s. Stories of car-kicking, machine gun-pointing, fender-bending, and other torrid tales of abuse filled the comments section. Many of which were witnessed by MAPSA, MMDA, and other local authorities. More nauseating, is when they did get involved, it was only to assist the convoy in getting through the lights illegally. 

It took less than a year for President Aquino’s bold declaration of “no wang wangs” to hit its use-by date. Because just like super cockroaches that seem to survive just about any form of fumigation, the vermin are back and slowly breeding again. Only this time they’ve come back stronger and more immune. Oh, and they use their hazards instead of sirens to try and fool us into thinking that they are not the same strain of fungus that the President supposedly eradicated back in June of 2010. 

Enough is enough. There is no way our authorities can expect our respect when we are forced to endure such a blatant violation of our most basic rights. Because if these VIPs, especially those in government, think that their time is too valuable to be spent in traffic, why not try doing something constructive about it instead of weaseling your way around it? Like building a road. Or taking the four or five unnecessary back-up vehicles around you that are clogging up our already congested streets. 

The use of illegal wang wangs, security convoys, rent-a-cops, and more importantly, the tolerance of it, is a microcosm of everything that’s wrong with our dear country. P-Noy was able to earn a huge chunk of respect during his inauguration when he put his foot down on these insects. All I am asking now, if you happen to read this, sir, is to kindly twist that same foot to make sure that you really kill it this time. 

Is there anything wrong with slapping a P500,000 fine for anyone caught using an escort vehicle? Try it. Call it sin tax. 

Because this act of defiance is not just disrespectful to you, Mr. President, it is also a test of your resolve. They just want to see how far they can take it. Give a man like this an inch and he wants to be a ruler. Today its wang wangs on their vehicles; tomorrow they want to take over some islands... 

For comments, suggestions or reactions, you can contact the author through the official Counterflow Facebook page or email [email protected].