Bohol's trikes is an example of false religiosity

Do unto others what you want others to do unto you. / Love your enemies. / The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid? / Faith can move mountainous hearts. / Jesus still the answer.

Tricycle pic grabbed from ajpoliquit.wordpress.om

These are only examples of what you can read from Bohol's famous tricycles. The religious tones have been praised by some sectors and being replicated by other towns and municipalities.

But despite the deep religiosity, Bohol's drivers were not actually practicing what they "preached," and I believe, this is a good case of false religiosity among Filipinos.

BLATANT EXAMPLE

By the time you arrived at Tagbilaran's port or airport, tricycle drivers shamelessly milk you to the bone. The regular fare of tricycles around the city limits is actually 8 pesos (as of this writing) but drivers will not accept your 8 pesos even if you just wanted to be dropped at the Agora, the city's center. Drivers would ask from you ranging from 10 to 15 pesos, even more if you are a tourist. A lot more if you are foreigner-looking. One time I offered 30 pesos so the driver will bring me home to Mansasa (regular fare 10 pesos) but instead the driver asked for 5 pesos more. I walked to Pook Pantalan (the gate of Tagbilaran Port) and paid the next driver 35 for home. It is a fact, upon arriving at the port or airport, locals are usually turned down in preference for the more touristy looking visitors. Drivers on that part of the Philippines will only call on you if all the other visitors have snubbed them for hired vans or taxis.

Tagbilaran is just a small city, so that calling a tricycle is a standard practice. The tricycle is actually the only means of transport since taxis are always on call and you can rarely see them around town. So their prevalence cannot be left unnoticed.

NEVER MIND THE TARIFF

I happened to talk to a tricycle driver who was once a president of the tricycle drivers union who claimed he was one of those who formulated the tariff of tricycles around the city of Tagbilaran. They made the tariff into law since many locals have been nagging them on the unrestrained fares asked by tricycle drivers.

Surely, like any other law, the tariff posted on every public utility vehicles have been regarded obsolete by drivers especially in the port and airport of Tagbilaran.

PALATINO'S BILL

Mong Palatino's House Bill 6330 or An Act Empowering Heads of Offices and Departments to Strictly Implement the Constitutional Provisions on Religious Freedom in Government Offices could have been a good start to make people be aware that being religious is not just found in symbols and signages but deeply rooted in every person. The use of religious/biblical quotes to add a flowery touch to make the city "livable" is actually a pain in the ass of commuters in Tagbilaran. Like a beautiful wall to hide garbage within its confines.

TOURISM AFFECTED?

I have yet to see a positive move by concerned agencies on this rampant stealing of commuters by drivers of Tagbilaran. Many years ago, the drivers were required to undergo a seminar-training on basic courtesies by the provincial tourism office of Bohol. I believe drivers were made aware of rightful and duly approved rates during that seminar. I never heard any updating ever since.

I heard many tourists coming in to Tagbilaran making fuss about this but being on vacation and not knowing where to address their concerns, they just mumble and go on to their destinations.

COMPARING CEBU DRIVERS

Although comparing Tagbilaran and Cebu is not necessary, but Cebu drivers who were often considered by biased Boholanos as dishonest and mostly con artists, are actually the most honest between the two provinces. When the LTO declared that the jeepney fare would cost 7.50, most Cebu drivers would return your change of 50 centavos and would nicely tell commuters if they were not able to give 50 centavos back. And you cannot see  biblical quotes in taxis and jeepneys around the city.

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

I may be dreaming but I am hoping this practice by Tagbilaran drivers should be corrected and be given priority by concerned agencies (LTO, Police, Tourism Agencies) since Bohol has been claiming as the top tourist destination in the Philippines. The service sector, including these tricycle drivers, should be given priority revamp, revision, restructuring, whatever the sectors call them but this should be corrected fast. This has been a long time sore but has never been solved.

It is high time for Tagbilaran to live by the quotes posted in their tricycles and not just require them as adornments.

More readings:

Trouble Tricycle Drivers in Tagbilaran City by Melgrace Abandula

Ocho-ocho fares starts today by Bohol Republic

Statement of Kabataan Partylist on Rep. Mong Palatino's HB 6330

Are Those Tricycle Drivers Holy? by myLot.com

Bohol is not ready for tourism after all, my blog also about Tagbilaran tricycles in August 2010

Easter and Christians

Christians are celebrating their Easter (supposed to be the resurrection of the Christ) with eggs. Colored, painted and hidden eggs.

Comments from Ricky Maestrado:

Like Halloween, Santa Claus, and even Sinulog are among the many pagan traditions adopted by early Christians just because it falls on the same time of the year as with another Christian event. (And also back then, it would be easier for them to convert the local non-believers if they could show that Christianity is somehow connected with their traditions.)

The bunny, eggs, chicks, even lambs and daffodils are all to do with the spring season which symbolizes rebirth like the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The influence in the Philippines, however, is due to commercialization and has nothing to do with religion.

Drawing from lynnrockets.wordpress.com

Hands. Blood. God.

Hands. Blood. God. The women wove those words together, the same way they hung their clothes on the lines. Mixing words like shirts of different colors, inseparable. Exactly the way they laid them out to dry on corrugated aluminum. The way they went to church every Sunday, veiled with holiness, only to come home screaming in the Spanish curses nobody could understand. I thought of umbrellas, how these women carried them in both rain and sun, always finding ways to cover themselves. The more I listened, the more I understood what had happened...

~Bino A. Realuyo, The Umbrella Country

Fasting and Ramadan: Gun Shots

I was cowering in fear and was perspiring a lot. Felt so cold and yet perspiring.

I was riding this tricycle driven by a brother I did not know. The trike has a machine gun mounted on it. But suddenly the machine gun was directed at me. Before long a bullet could burst and tore me in pieces, I jumped out of the trike and took cover. I ran, fell, ran, fell and ran. I saw my mother and I took refuge in her comfort. But still the powers of the invasion excused no one. So I ran again and fell again. I could not use my phone because it was traceable. But even if I use my phone, I did not kow whom to call. I ran.

Sudden burst of machine power took over the whole place where I was in. Even the powerlines were quivering in its power. It was like an alien invasion. Doomsday! I sensed a ringing. In my head. In my ears. The ringing was within my ears. It was too loud. I shouted in fear.

And then I woke up to the sound of the alarm clock. It is 3.30 in the morning. Time to prepare for my fast.

Today is my seventh and I could not think of anything in my prayers. I just sat there. Empty!

(Pic from soulpretty.blogspot.com)

Fasting and Ramadan: Hauntings

Today marks my sixth day of fasting. I am very glad I made it through.

Everyday I jot down notes and make blogs, recording my spiritual journey through fasting during the Ramadan. This is a feat I will surely treasure.

I am grateful for my friends who supported me this far. My family did not know this. Had they known they would surely say I am doing a silly thing.

The past days made me walk on a thin line. Everything I do made me vulnerable and emotional. At times, involuntary (and unnecessary) crying precedes prayers. I just don't know why and how this happens. It's like a free-flowing sort of activity. Like it's a part of the process. Sissy stuff.

But then again, prayers and support and a little bit more of an extended patience up to its very limit, I think, made me survive.

Actually, I hate the spirituality crap of this journey. I am not a religious person. Honestly. My friends asked me and even said I am preparing for my inevitable death hence this fasting. Truth be told, that's what old people do. Pray and pray and pray and make indulgences, fasting being one of them. As if prayers and acts of kindness could erase all the sins they have done when they were younger. Some even adopted priests and nuns to make up what they have lost. Kind of silly, actually.

But no matter how much I deny this fact, I could not refrain from putting theology side by side with my activity. This fasting and all. The ultimate answer leads to God, Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh, eternal peace.

And peace indeed I seek.

During this times, my dead ancestors (I hope they rest in peace) paid their nocturnal visits this past days during my fasting. They came as part of my dreams. Which leads me to ask, are they bothered with my observance of "Ramadan"?

My grandparents, my uncles, my neighbors, appeared in a rewind, like an old movie, always reminding me of the past. My grandparents came to me and took me back to the days when they were alive. Awfully happy and without a trace of sadness. My dead uncles visited me too. My neighbors smiled at me too. My favorite auntie is the only remaining dead person who have not made me dream of her. Am I crazy or what?

Whatever these reminders meant, they haunted me through the day. Maybe they are the reason why I am a bit emotional. Maybe they wanted me to discover things. Maybe they are leaving me a message. Maybe they were bored out there and making fun of me. Whatever that is, I am willing to uncover them. I still have about 23 days more to do this. But no! Please, don't leave messages that say it is already the end of the world!

May He will grant us peace and make us all stronger. Alhamdulillah!

(How I wish I could quote a Koran passage here but citing sensitivity to our brothers in Islam, I would not do that since I am not a Muslim.)

(Picture from here and here.)

New Moon

In between light and darkness, when the horizon becomes blue and orange and deep purple and then grey, when people starts burning up their torches to see but not seeing your beauty and grace, you caught me staring at you for a long time, trying to figure out what’s with you? I am confused. You’re up there unknowingly showing your half self. Not full but half. Like the one I know who wants to be discovered but not yet. Ambivalence personified.

Questions linger in my mind like a school of fish seeing food. These questions nibble constantly, each morsel not a nourishment but a mystery. A mystery slowly and painstakingly disintegrating right before my eyes as I tried to discern them, leaving me uninformed of what you wanted me to discover. Leaving me a hemispherical question I could not fathom.

Different religions embraced you like you are a sage. You show up, they fast. You show up, they grow strong. You show up, they took another form. Some even took their knowledge of a god based on your appearance and disappearance, adding mystery to your already mysterious personality.

People behave uniquely when you are around. They put you forever in temple minarets to be gazed upon. They put you in emblems for others to shiver in remembrance. Some became senseless, bowing to you when you place yourself up there. Lunatics!

You symbolized a new beginning. You symbolized a half-crazed mind. A new life. A different one. A fresh start. What powers do you have?

When darkness claims its stake and lovers begin their romantic sighs in some meadows unknown, they claim they see the stars banding together when they fall in-love. Some see a man on a full moon. Some see bats and witches and zombies. But, what about you?

Have I fallen in love, too?

(picture from NASA)

Fasting and Ramadan: 3rd day

I was not able to say a more personal prayer this time because I have guests at home. When the alarm struck at 3:30 in the morning, someone asked: What are you doing?

So I just prepared a small food and bless them and started a very brief prayer.

Later part the day I have to say prayers while sitting somewhere.

No matter how I will explain myself, these people would not understand what I was doing. Silence is the best answer.

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Suddenly I craved for coffee. Before Ramadan, I usually took 5-6 cups a day. A day means daytime. Reason for me to lessen my coffee intake. Maybe one or two later tonight?

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Read somewhere this e-card and was amused. The message said- Since you can't engage in gossip, lust, or obscenity during Ramadan, let's just reconnect in October.

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Isn't it weird? I am a Christian with a Hebrew name observing Ramadan?

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Fasting and Ramadan: Second day

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock and mahjong set from a neighbor. I have to drag myself out of my bed, drag my body under the shower and hit the cold water. That woke me up.

Feeling clean, I prepared my food for the day- tuna sandwich and a glass of water. This will sustain me for the day, I thought.

When the food comfortably settled in my stomach, I began my prayers. I thanked Him for the good life I have experienced. I thanked Him for my family and friends. I asked for forgiveness and world peace. Honestly, when world peace came in my mind, my mind wandered off to the Miss Universe pageant. I actually laughed during prayer. 

I felt good.