EDITORIAL - Another bad example

So another person has been caught using the EDSA bus line. But this time it wasn’t just any ordinary person. It was the Quezon City 2nd District representative.

We won’t mention his name here anymore since it’s easy to google. Needless to say he belongs to a family that prides itself in righting wrongs, so to speak, and calling out “katiwalian” and misdemeanors, and pointing out the mistakes and offenses of others.

To be fair, he hasn’t been alone in illegally using that bus lane, a lane which is supposed to be only for public transportation. Earlier last December, a car assigned to a senator also used that bus lane, and the driver tried to flee and even hit a traffic enforcer when accosted. The same month a car assigned to the Department of the Interior and Local Government was also flagged for the same offense.

But even before that it was the convoy of a former Ilocos Sur governor that used the lane. Then it was the vehicle of another senator, although he was not in it at the time.

Discipline has never been a strong suit when it comes to us Filipinos. We can see it in how some of us can never seem to form a line; there is always someone who wants to cut in, or even establish a new line entirely.

It’s not just the rich who have a sense of entitlement. Many of the ordinary folk have a feeling that societal norms do not apply to them when it comes to them too. We see this in how many of us cannot even bother to throw trash where it belongs, more than happy to litter everywhere and feeling safe in the assurance that someone else will pick it up later. We also see this in the way some of us ignore traffic rules.

One reason why Filipinos have trouble learning discipline is because we don’t have good role models to follow. Even among those who are supposed to be local executives, lawmakers, and high officials and their personnel, there are those who think they can get away with the things other people cannot.

How can we expect people to follow the law if our own lawmakers and people in authority break the law?