Manila bus drivers: Public Enemy No. 1

THERE I GO AGAIN: Yeah, I know. What good does it do to bitch and moan? Not much good at all, it seems, but it makes me feel better. Today gang, let’s pick on bus drivers. I don’t hate all of them – only most of them. Why? Well, if you have ever driven on a busy street, like Edsa, Ayala or many others you will note that they are a dangerous, scary, arrogant, horn-blowing breed (again, strong letter will follow.) Avoid them like a new girl friend with kili kili power (bad body odor.) They drive all over the road. Lanes mean nothing to them. They wheel those big monsters around as if they were on a bicycle weaving in and out of traffic. They seem to care nothing for other cars, motorbikes, pedestrians, even jeepneys (and that’s another story. Jeepneys have their own brand of insanity.) I have been side swiped many times and watched the bus zoom away totally uncaring about po’ little me. If you call the police you may spend half a day waiting in the middle of the street and when the cops finally come, what can they do? The bus surely did not stop to wait. The buses will change lanes giving no signals and no warning at all. They just do it and you better beware. If they are behind you and want to pass, they blow those huge air horns that are so loud that you think you have been hit in the head by Pacman’s right glove. They think they are the kings of the road, but they are really bullies who would not be so brave if they were wheeling around my little Ford. Guess they must work on commission (or they have a hot date waiting at home) and the faster they get anywhere, the more money they make. They are a menace to the road and should all go through a retraining program and take a sanity test. And maybe you should take a sanity test if you are even thinking of driving on the same street with them.

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PEEPING IN KEYHOLES: Joe Velardi, former Operations Manager of Mimosa at Clark in Pampanga and later a top exec at Bistro Holdings, operators of Italiannis, TGIFriday, Fish & Co. and so many other restaurants that it makes my alleged mind boggle, in town for a few days enroute to Las Vegas for his annual leave. Velardi is presently the General Manager of the Banana Fan Sea Resort in Kho Samui, Thailand. We spotted him at Mezze in Greenbelt the other night listening to Betsy Fernandez make her comeback debut as a jazz singer. Betsy, who used to be the featured jazz vocalist at the old New Orleans Restaurant in Greenbelt sings every Wednesday night at Mezze, a very hip (I think “hip” dates me and I should say “cool.” Yes? No? Maybe?) restaurant and bar in Greenbelt 2 in Makati. Betsy never missed a note and sounds better than ever. She surely does not have to take a back seat to any of today’s jazz singers. She is still top drawer and I might add, in top shape, (okay, so I should not have been peeking at her body, but I had two good reasons.) And if you looked closely in the audience you would have spotted other great bodies on former New Orleans staffers, Vanessa “Ness” Briones and MJ Jane Olea, both super stunners and Betsy fans.

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LURKING IN DARK PLACES: I like Balaw Balaw (it means fermented shrimp but if you don’t believe me, ask a Filipino) in Angono, Rizal. It’s

not only a Department of Tourism accredited Filipino restaurant, but it’s an art gallery and a museum of Folk Arts. Good food including such everyday dishes as python adobo, iguana cooked the way you always eat it at home, wild boar and deer meat and, of course the drunken frog, marinated in gin. How else can they get the cute little thing tipsy enough to let you eat it? Yes mama. Don’t worry! They have the usual Filipino fare and it tastes good. Worth the hour or so trip in what is often heavy traffic…I can’t speak for other cable channels, but I hate those Viscon and Multi Media, Inc. ticker tape ads on Destiny Cable that annoyingly streak across the screen when you are highly involved in the program you are watching. How disconcerting. You pay for the use of the cable but they don’t pay you for the extra ads they force you to watch in the middle of a program. Not only do the ads often block your view, but they can’t even get the spelling right. How embarrassing – for them – not for me. Stop already!....Betcha didn’t know that taxi drivers in Manila don’t like to pick up three people. How come you ask? Because they feel that they have a better chance of being held up and robbed. How do I know that? Because a taxi driver told me so, that’s how.

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OUT OF MY MIND: The other day while strolling in Corinthian Plaza in Makati, I passed an office with the name, “Search Bank.” Nice offices and convenient to where I live. It looked like a good place to deposit what little money I had left after paying my bar bill. WRONG. They would not take my money (now that’s a first for the Philippines.) A very personable guy named Rey De Jesus, who is a Senior Consultant for the bank, that turned out not to be a bank at all, informed me that Search Bank is, in the terms of the trade, a head hunting outfit (no, they will not cook you in a pot.) They search for jobs for middle and high level management types, pointed out De Jesus, who is also Chairman of the Membership Committee of the American Association of the Philippines. Search Bank, headed by its chairman Glendon Rowell, has been in the Philippines for 28 years and for 26 years was called “Boydon” until two years ago when they changed it to Search Bank. Amazing what things you learn trying to walk off a big lunch. Aren’t you glad you read this column? What do you mean, “NO.” Okay, go read the obituaries and see if I care.

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PARTING SHOT: Miguel Walsdorf, who has lived in the Philippines longer than I have and is a long-time Boracay resident and restaurateur, (he owns the “Jammers” a neat little fast food eatery in D’Mall, right smack on the beach road,) reminds us (with a wink) that some superstitious residents of Cagayan de Oro believe that if your daughter elopes, spank her clothes hard with a piece of wood and at the same time say “come back!” and she will surely return. My guess would be that when she comes back she’ll be spanked again, but this time it’ll be in the pwet (butt to us Kanos.)

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MURRAY’S COLUMN CAN ALSO BE READ ONLINE AT www.whatson-expat.com.ph

RA 9400 would also apply to the Poro Point Management Corporation, John Hay Management Corp., and Bataan Technological Park Incorporated, which have also been declared special economic zones.

R.A. 9400 was the result of the consolidation of Senate Bill 2260 and House Bill 5064, while R.A. 9399 was a combination of Senate Bill 2259 and House Bill 4901. Both laws were authored by Senator Ralph Recto and were certified as urgent by the President.

Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) president Narciso Abaya comments that the signing of the two laws are “giant steps” toward achieving the President’s “8 by ’08” agenda. This plan focuses on job creation, pro-poor education, health care and housing, more investments, hunger mitigation, lowering the cost of living, a strong peso, tough tourism drive and a green Philippines.

As of the present, the BCDA is drafting the implementing rules and regulations (IRRs) for the new laws.