Child Overload
Here's another amazing intriguing perplexing sighting I had today.
I was traveling from Basey to Kananga via the Barugo-Carigara road. Ah, while traversing the normal way (via Tacloban, Palo, Alang-alang and so on down to Carigara) is just about the same in kilometer distance, passing via Babatngon-Barugo-Carigara is quicker as there's no traffic - virtually no vehicles!
About an hour and a half into this road trip as we were passing by Cabarasan Barugo, I saw this...
I quickly snapped that pic as we were overtaking the motorbike - loaded with a squad of children! All I could think was: "OMG Manong, if they are all your family and something untoward happens"... OMG!
The other reason I wanted to snap this pic was: so I could have an exact count of all of them hahaha!
So alright, let's do a headcount accounting! There are 8 passengers, therefore there are a total of nine human beings on board, and not one has a helmet. I am not sure if that female with a white headband is also a child or the mother of any or all children. She looks too young to be the mother, but possible!
The ninth person, if you cannot seem to find him/her, is right at the back of manong driver. He/She is wearing a long sleeved red shirt and his/her left hand is also clutching on to manong driver's red shirt! If you still can't find him/her, look down to their feet. His/her's is the shortest and without a footwear!
Anyway, yes I was amazed and it evoked varying emotions in my heart and mind...
Manong driver is obviously violating the law on protective helmets and number of passengers allowed per motorbike. Like I do, I am sure he has an idea of what those are - even without literally reading and properly interpreting the law, right? But part of me is reacting in his defense, even if I know it's unsafe.
For example: on the helmet, if he had money enough to buy 9 helmets, he would probably rather use that money to let his family commute via jeep or tricycle, right? That amount (I'm estimating...) would probably be enough for 300 commute trips for all of them! If he had the money. Obviously he doesn't.
The law (I think) says a motorbike can only have one passenger other than the driver, right? If this manong is to abide by that law, then the rest of his family should commute. But, obviously it is an inconvenient reality not only for him but for many Filipinos. So, bakit sya ang mauunang igalang ang batas na yan, di ba? Especially that this is on a remote backroad seldom used by other vehicles.
But... I cringe at the thought... if even the slightest of accidents ever happen... simba ko 'wag naman sana... it's his whole family with him. Galos gasgas lamog bagok bali whatever, it sure will be more than just a headache for this family. And, this looks like, any mishap will hurt more than one of them.
Anyway, and ooops! I think two of the girls saw me aiming my camera at them. But I also think, they smiled - even excitedly grinned, I guess! I asked the driver to pull over and wait for them to overtake us. Then we tailed them for a while and I recorded a short video clip. I'll post that here soon. Promise!
And when we overtook them again, I caught their facial expressions...
I guess none of them would ever want to scold me for posting their faces on this blog right? Sana po!
I was traveling from Basey to Kananga via the Barugo-Carigara road. Ah, while traversing the normal way (via Tacloban, Palo, Alang-alang and so on down to Carigara) is just about the same in kilometer distance, passing via Babatngon-Barugo-Carigara is quicker as there's no traffic - virtually no vehicles!
About an hour and a half into this road trip as we were passing by Cabarasan Barugo, I saw this...
The other reason I wanted to snap this pic was: so I could have an exact count of all of them hahaha!
So alright, let's do a headcount accounting! There are 8 passengers, therefore there are a total of nine human beings on board, and not one has a helmet. I am not sure if that female with a white headband is also a child or the mother of any or all children. She looks too young to be the mother, but possible!
The ninth person, if you cannot seem to find him/her, is right at the back of manong driver. He/She is wearing a long sleeved red shirt and his/her left hand is also clutching on to manong driver's red shirt! If you still can't find him/her, look down to their feet. His/her's is the shortest and without a footwear!
Anyway, yes I was amazed and it evoked varying emotions in my heart and mind...
Manong driver is obviously violating the law on protective helmets and number of passengers allowed per motorbike. Like I do, I am sure he has an idea of what those are - even without literally reading and properly interpreting the law, right? But part of me is reacting in his defense, even if I know it's unsafe.
For example: on the helmet, if he had money enough to buy 9 helmets, he would probably rather use that money to let his family commute via jeep or tricycle, right? That amount (I'm estimating...) would probably be enough for 300 commute trips for all of them! If he had the money. Obviously he doesn't.
The law (I think) says a motorbike can only have one passenger other than the driver, right? If this manong is to abide by that law, then the rest of his family should commute. But, obviously it is an inconvenient reality not only for him but for many Filipinos. So, bakit sya ang mauunang igalang ang batas na yan, di ba? Especially that this is on a remote backroad seldom used by other vehicles.
But... I cringe at the thought... if even the slightest of accidents ever happen... simba ko 'wag naman sana... it's his whole family with him. Galos gasgas lamog bagok bali whatever, it sure will be more than just a headache for this family. And, this looks like, any mishap will hurt more than one of them.
Anyway, and ooops! I think two of the girls saw me aiming my camera at them. But I also think, they smiled - even excitedly grinned, I guess! I asked the driver to pull over and wait for them to overtake us. Then we tailed them for a while and I recorded a short video clip. I'll post that here soon. Promise!
And when we overtook them again, I caught their facial expressions...
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