Bayani’s bolo brigade
"The MMDA wants to pursue its plan to arm its traffic enforcers with bolos to protect themselves because Malacanang does not object to it, the agency said yesterday”—Manila Standard Today, Aug. 11, 2007MAKATI City, August 30, 2007. Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando launched yesterday the new MMDA traffic enforcement system in colorful ceremonies at the MMDA headquarters in Makati City.
Wearing a custom-made uniform with a shiny bolo on his waist, Fernando thanked President Arroyo for supporting his initiative and pledged to help the law and order campaign, including joining the war against the Abu Sayyaf.
Fernando waged a vigorous campaign to arm his traffic enforcers with jungle bolos, claiming that violent drivers, sidewalk vendors and squatters have hurt or threatened his employees. The police resisted the idea.
The chairman resisted suggestions that the MMDA use billy sticks and teargas. Spears and bow-and-arrow struck him as too medieval. For a while, according to sources, the agency considered using swords. But immediately thrown out was the proposal to use human excrement on unruly squatters and sidewalk vendors.
Fernando won the debate, ordered new uniforms for the enforcers, made them train in bolo fighting, read them the riot act and conducted a metro-wide PR campaign.
About 2,000 rayadillo-clad (the cloth used by the Katipunan revolutionists) traffic officers took part in the launch. They raised high their bolos when they rededicated themselves to their oath.
The MMDA originally wanted to import the kukri jungle bolo, the machete popular among the Gurkha warriors of Nepal who are serving the British army. Fernando was told Marikina-made steel is just as sharp.
About a hundred young good-looking enforcers were noticeably barefoot. They will be used for ceremonial functions and official state ceremonies, according to an MMDA source.
Fernando vowed the weapon was purely for self-protection and would be used only as a last resort. As part of their code of ethics, the enforcers will not take their bolo when visiting bars and cocktail lounges. The rules of engagement require that only rusty bolos may be used for demolitions that usually turn violent.
After the ceremonies, Fernando traveled with two groups that were deployed to Ayala Avenue and Roxas Boulevard. The enforcers demonstrated before assembled businessmen and diplomats their new system of enforcing traffic rules and the correct way to wear and use a bolo.
CNN Asia reported the unusual program, wondering what new perceptions of the Filipinos the world would get this time from Manila’s new experiment.
An unsung patriot
VERY few Filipinos have heard of Jose Kumilos but oral history among old-timers at the Home for The Aged in Pasay City remembers him as an unappreciated patriot who tried to do many great things for his country—and failed.
According to one story, when Emilio Aguinaldo wanted the United States to endorse the June 12 independence proclamation, he sent Kumilos to Washington, D.C., to lobby the White House and Congress. He failed because he traveled to Washington State instead of proceeding to the District of Columbia.
Some old-timers credit Kumilos for writing a set of advice for young Filipinos that uncannily recall popular counsel being circulated today. They recite the advice from memory that, according to those who could remember, was read them by their fathers and forefathers. The Kumilos Cartilla for Young Filipinos include:
Read the works of Rizal, Balagtas and other Tagalog writers for wisdom. Ignore the grammatical mistakes.
Pay your taxes even if the money goes to the Spanish government. This habit will help us because Tagalogs will rule the country one day.
If you have a servant, treat her well because that’s the human thing to do. She will also respect you and will not spit in your coffee or glass of water.
Patronize the national railways because it’s the only thing that unites us from Manila to Damortis, La Union.
Treat foreigners well—Spaniards, Chinese, Japanese, Americans—because someday they may run the economy.
Intramuros, Bagumbayan, the Pasig River, Manila Bay and the Botanical Garden will never be as clean and green as they appear today.
A plan is afoot to do a more extensive oral history on Jose Kumilos. His life is inspiring because it reflects the aspirations. failures and small victories of the Filipino.
‘Crispy pata’ for frequent fliers
WE rather like the Philippine Air Lines ad that invites us to
“fly all you can!” by offering two domestic tickets with every purchase of an economy class domestic ticket. It borrows from the buy-one, take-one concept but not, of course, from the eat-all-you-can promotion. We cannot fly all we want, even if we wish to.
Equally interesting is the BPI Express Credit ad that offers a free crispy pata— courtesy of Gerry’s Grill—with your “free BPI express credit card!”
Next time you get a hankering for “irresistibly free” crispy pata, call a designated number or visit any branch and you get a free card at the same time. Could the bank throw in a bottle of beer? Could PAL link up with BPI’?
