WHY MEDIA MUST BE A FORBADE INDUSTRY

 Hapless, helpless unless you make it a money industry.

An open letter to the incoming Mass Comm students

Where Have All the Buses Gone?

 

Amidst the Heat, Commuters Fill to The Raft an Airconditioned Bus. There Were Not Many Around.

There is a deep ratio discrimination on the number of buses versus the mini-est of e-bikes on the road.

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

About a year ago this writer has noticed that despite an attempt into normalcy, that has lapsed from a digital revolution high expectancy to a lackluster future for many, the usual transportation that used to be around to make things convenient for countless commuters, are no longer the visible PUVs plying their normal route.

 

For example, before the pandemic, a wait for an airconditioned bus along the Alabang-Zapote road Pamplona stretch, would not take five minutes. 

 

At the height of El Nino and even as the authorities bewilder about the La Nina to replace it, an ordinary commuter who wants that simple luxury of an “airconditioned”, bus would have to wait for not just up to 15 minutes, but up to 20 to 40 minutes instead. 

 

An airconditioned bus would have meant a lot to ensure a continuance of “normal work/daily routine” for mothers and commuters who want to get a respite from the hyper-intensified heat of the weather. But alas, the wait these days have become like a penitence of sorts.   The number of bus brands have also trickled and yes, a lot have fickled in choosing their passengers as well.  Only one from the familiar bus names before continue to hover around town, in more prevalent hours, to serve commuters.

 

Also, despite more commuters trying on non-airconditioned buses that used to be for the economically challenged, the open somewhat "al-fresco" buses come in reconfigured two row seats like the jeepneys.  These have become a dichotomic statement for the commuters’ lifestyle—for the teens, lolas and workers who are coming from Las Pinas, leaving for the Baclaran route.

 

As we all know these days, a wait for a ride in 15 minutes haunting, is no longer the same as a wait in recent two or more years that passed, at a timeline when waiting, despite being time consuming, can still be patiently done.  Now waiting is tantamount to "PENITENSYA", or sacrifice of sorts and no one seems to take on empathy for the commuter lifestyle.

 

It seems that nobody really took to heart the effects of EL NINO and how to respond to this weather as it dramatically impacts our lifestyle. 

 

To complicate further a passenger who finds himself or herself in a hush for hunger or thirst while waiting, would have to wait for another block to be able to find the nearest food stop in main malls that offer a more democratized alternatives for meal stopovers.    

 

As a commuter waits to endear himself/herself to other commuters, to be able to squeeze into a bus space for that now “human right” or “right of survival”  enjoyment of air-conditioning even in low peak hours in buses,  one would have to contend with a long wait on the streets by the metro, with no shade, or  commuters roof nearby that have been positioned to care for the commuters. 

 

This simply is a testament of our usual, “beat it ‘till you make it attitude”, with many who could be hoping for more action and support against the El Nino weather. 

 

As commuters, we can choose to express a welcoming, "don't sweat the small stuff" attitude in facing the sun.  But that won’t feed or protect us as enough. 

 

Noticeably, there is a slimming quantity of buses, and this ushers in a new hardship for the pocket-wise commuters.

 

We cannot surmise the fact that any leadership would aspire for a modern transportation system that would brag about an increase of status in our economy. But these ain’t happening if the usual things we whine about commuters' need, are not responded to.

 

We need more airconditioned buses that are affordable. And a more kid-friendly transportation mode for anyone to relish.    

 

Against the posing of status of many motorists in their luxury vehicles, who has not probably even experienced the ills of El Nino outside their well-manicured lifestyle, commuters must loud it out that TRANSPORTATION MUST BE NOT ONLY RELIABLE BUT CONVENIENTLY AMENABLE TO ALL CONSUMERS.

 

We Couldn't Care LESS about the Weather

 

While scientists from all over have sounded the alarm button, the country is STILL, hand tied to age-old issues of territorial integrity, food insecurity, and more.

Netizens Get Intrigued Over Accent, Citizenship of Bamban, Tarlac Mayor

Netizens on the thread of a popular commenting/ community sharing site, are talking about Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, and they're flooding the topic with such zealousness.

Going as far as how her accent, citizenship and schooling appears  "sus" (slang), with netizens dissecting point by point their concerns about the real background of the now "controversial" mayor.

Some netizens leaped frog on various topics that intrigued them about the mayor, who is now the subject of a Senate investigation related to POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators).

Deep commenting on the Mayor's less known background which one commenter claimed the mayor seems to have "come out of nowhere", netizens  are going as far as raising issues about the Tarlac mayor's  "accent";  "grammar" and even more prying questions about her "birth certificate".  

Even the local politician's previous homeschooling status, where thrusted into the  commenting site.

The netizens seem to be fixated not just on the controversy she is entangled with, but that they are intrigued that the mayor's surname, does not have mainstream familiarity to the locals, and is  not part of the usual family names that are identifiable to local politics.

NRP May 21, 2024.

Is Cavite Snubbing InterCity Migrants?

So commuter unfriendly. So uncomfortable to walk around during El Nino weather.

Some Like It Rude.

"Tindera", Saleslady, Staff?  However way you call it, some has embraced a "lakas maka-nega" attitude.

                                            

Some Things Ain't No Longer Free, Such as Mall Parking

It will just be from a distant past that parking spaces at a local mall in Las Pinas, used to be free.

Parking spaces at a local mall are fully-occupied during intense hours of El Nino weather.

Para-Paraan Moves By The Locals To Beat The Scourge of El Nino

                                            

When Smart People Are Made To Look Desperate In Times of El Nino

The underserviced disenfranchised professionals in niche industries continue to be helpless, and without a hope for a future.

                                            

                                            

Five years after the pandemic and at a time when El Nino has poised to rid of most jobless professionals hope for help and opportunities, none has changed but a pile of debts or debts of gratitude for the jobless.

Maybe, it is the soaring chance for the Philippines to take charge of its fate by owning it's path to progress. But the jobless and the disenfranchised do not feel this road being taken for them too.

What good news that slightly have given  hopes is that about news of an age-old problem being resolved by a tycoon who has done here, this writer will spare to mention, a  giant feat and fest for the cleanup of the dirtiest parts of the Metro. 

But for the rest able wealth Mavens, who are in the position to give best of opportunities for employment and financial assistance, most continue to give a blank face on those who have been forgotten.

Professionals who have charted an age way past their prime but still productive to work for crucial industries like food manufacturing, and the women who have previously bowed time for their profession, those who have settled in their simple lives as homemakers, continue to be outside the fence of hope.

These two examples of professionals have become a dirt swept under the rug by many movers and shakers in businesses who dare not treasure hire the relentless outcasts.

Here outcast is meant to mean people who were discriminated intensely by their own colleagues or probably  by a system enforced by the Human Resource Personnel in companies that matter.  

For reasons that aged workers have lack the youth value, or have a baggage to rut.  

What HR would hire a housewife with needy clingy kid/s, when one can hire a fully made up young applicant who will not budge at having a low salary or probably brave the hot weather for a chance to work at a big corporation?

As the the outcast ageing  employees wait for their turn for opportunities and help, they who were smart in their own work experiences, have to contend with an empty sack of rice, or a cold shoulder treatment every time they knock and pound on for  help from others.  

Why flutter for the needy when some, if not countless, are  trying to hoard their wealth, or should we say "conserve it",  when there are lots of uncertainty in the economy?

One thing, the recent bout with a 46 to 51 heat indeces that felt like people were over ready to be baked, did not at all push the wealthy, the powerful, and those with the means to provide, a help structure or reprieve, or at most an emergency base for the jobless professionals to cling on to, and probably reach out those who could be living a hardlife in times of El Nino?

With unprepared houses in urban areas, and a lack of contingency offer at the very most important level of government service, the local government has gone quietly unspoken on how to  sustain its own residents beyond the posturing for  glamorized photos.  

Like  providing the essentials such as positioning emergency water stations in many spots in the city that should serve free water to the locals;  or the installation of the emergency "tolda" or shade that can be perused by the people when out on the streets, nothing, no little moves can be felt by the heat battling locals.

Meanwhile, the smart ones who are still piling up on their needs for opportunities could not even fair seek the help being given to those with the right "kapit" connections or community of "beshies" (slang for best friends or alliances), who push help only for those who belong to their fence of supporters, and not to those who have fallen against their favor or status estimation.

Most professionals who fight the lack of employment opportunities, have to heed more challenges in times of El Nino, for there is no true well meaning financial institution that would really cradle them to their broad shoulders and fix the problem caused by discrimination or neglect of employers who could make things better.

We must not allow discrimination in all fronts of services or pick who to side with in times of contingencies and emergencies.

When help and opportunities are  needed, it must be given freely without the need to demand for it.

Regardless if the one who seek help or a trove of opportunities, is jobless or bout fallen.

Edited.

Locals Brave the Scorch Of El Nino in Their Own Community

Illustrative photo by the writer, Anna Liza VB, to depict the heat flare during El Nino.