Why Support for A Violent Erring Driver is Troubling

December 5, 2014

by ChinoF

It’s Blue vs. Blue. On the blue corner, it’s MMDA enforcer Jorvy Adriatico. On the other blue corner, it’s businessman and flauntatious Maserati owner Joseph Russel Ingco. It’s a stupid way to put it, right? Filipinos love rivalries, though. And it’s perhaps annoying to see both trying to gain sympathy through media. However, my opinion is not based on that.

Photo courtesy of Philippines Daily

Ingco is in the hotseat for having mauled Adriatico, which was caught on CCTV. All Adriatico was doing was taking a video of Ingco’s car (who wouldn’t want to if it’s a rare sports car after all). But something snapped in Ingco, so he doubled back, had an argument, hit the guy, pulled him in and drove fast with Adriatico hanging from the window. It’s as if Ingco wanted to kill him.

So the above is my understanding of the situation. Ingco did the mauling, and Adriatico did nothing in the way of bribing or mulcting, so whatever he did has yet to be proven. Thus, Ingco has greater things to answer for because he actually tried to cause serious bodily injury to Adriatico. And this was recorded. Thus, Ingco should be charged and punished accordingly based on this.

The problem is, people have appeared claiming they were “victimized” by Adriatico. However, the timing is suspect; how could they come out only now, after so much time has passed after the supposed victimization? If Adriatico certainly has bribed or cheated some people, an investigation certainly should be held. My worry though is the possible outcome is that Adriatico, the one who was hurt in the incident in questioned, gets punished while Ingco walks away free.

If this happens, it would not only mean the triumph of the dysfunction of impunity, but it would also encourage other people to justify their acting as if they own the road. And even if they actually committed a violation, they would just say “you’re nothing but a corrupt ass!” and go on their rampage. Thus, all this support for Ingco indicates that many Filipinos secretly (well, not so sercretly) harbor desires to disregard the rule of law.

Some people would say, you’re stupid to side with Adriatico! But no, I’m not siding with Adriatico. I’m merely saying Ingco clearly did wrong. If Adriatico has his own violations, investigate it. But never let the one who clearly mauled another person off the hook. That there is support for him reveals a troubling aspect in these Filipinos who give such support.

This aspect is probably that Filipinos tend to be violent. On Facebook, there are comment like, “I would do what Ingco would have done,” and “kill all those motherfucking MMDAs!” This supports the notion that Filipinos are a more violent people than others, and are “less civilized” as a whole. Thus, massacres like the Maguindanao one are commonplace.

There still seems to an attitude that favors the “bad boy” as a “hero.” I thought the movies glorifying criminals were relics of the 1970s; however, this obsolete attitude still remains. It thus reveals that these Filipinos are far from civilized. They want to pay back evil with another evil. And thus, our society will stay mostly corrupt and will never improve. And that even this issue divides Filipinos is yet another saddening aspect.

So many road rage issues plague Philippine society. Rolito Go is the poster boy of Filipino road rage. Then you have the man who killed a pregnant woman over parking space in Loyola Cemetery in Marikina. There’s Rajiv Dargani of Oakley Philippines who killed someone. While not fatal, we remember cigarette company employee Robert Carabuena who punched an MMDA officer. These people seem to be the darlings of a gullible society that seems to adore wrongdoers (like those in power right now!).

Some wise guys say it’s just a car, but owning a Maserati means being so privileged enough to afford it.

Like I posted in an earlier article, the problem of Philippine society, as brilliantly observed by Spanish writer Jorge Majorro, is lack of respect for others and for public space. As Benign0’s brilliant words encapsulate: the trouble with Filipinos is that they don’t see any meaning in their lives that is bigger than themselves. They believe the public space is a playground for their hedonism, and that this hedonism comes at the cost of others, which they believe is all right. Unless Filipinos drop this attitude, merely going out of your home will be a life-endangering endeavor, since the source of the threat will be a fellow Filipino.

ChinoF

A guy who believes his greatest contribution to the universe is giving it a piece of his mind.