Driving in Manila… Again

The last time I took the wheel was back in 2004, heading home after from an exhibit we had in Greenbelt. Afterwards, laziness took away my driving enthusiasm and prefers to be a passenger or commute rather to bring a car. Fast forward in 2009, I managed to get my rusty driving skills back after 2 weeks of extensive retraining of basic driving, from being alert from assholes of the road to finding the knob to open the gas tank.

Before, I only drive to few places, mostly in short distances and not even in daily basis. They say if you can drive in Metro Manila flawlessly, you can drive anywhere in the world and I agree with that statement because Metro Manila has a lot of dangerous drivers, and of course, a lot of money hungry enforcers.

Since September I always drive to work, from Las Piñas to Makati, and the area I loathed the most is the Rotonda of EDSA extension, the one near the MRT Taft Station. Even if the area is only 1/8 of Ayala Avenue, you will always encounter all the assholery of these public vehicle drivers. Whenever I commute to work via an FX, I mostly sleep all the way to Makati and not minding the assholery done by those public vehicle drivers. Buses, the god damn buses, they have fetish to insert themselves even if it is only less than a meter of space, and they spew blacker than a black gulaman smoke. Taxis, the god damn taxis, those taxi drivers probably doesn’t know how to use the signal light and wants to swerve to someone’s lane even if you have a chance to have a collision with each other. Lot of taxis has their battle hardened look displayed on their bodies, which consists of scratches, bumps, cracks, cracked windows and more scratches. They feel they are invincible despite of having a lot of evident body damages but all I can say is… you are all shit. Tricycles, the goddamn tricycles, there should not be in the main road, and just like their bus counterparts, they have intense fetish of putting themselves in places that have 99% of getting the driver, and his passengers killed. I mostly commute from the most part of my life and I just realize how horrible those drivers are, and I am not even mentioning the EDSA beyond Makati.

But in the end, being “trained” under the EDSA conditions, I can consider myself a “good” driver, still there are a lot of things I still need to learn, and one of the major lessons I learned is how to spot and deal with legit and asshole tow guys.

Early December, after work and buying gifts from Glorietta, me and Rein head home, and when we reached near the MRT Magallanes station, I noticed the lights at the dashboard, including the headlights were getting dimmer, and in few seconds, the car died. I just let the remaining momentum of the vehicle reached its final halt. When it finally stopped we were near the U-turn slot below the MRT Magallanes station in front the Southgate mall.

When I am about to call my father (who is in MOA at that time) for help and assistance, all of a sudden a tow truck came (with the plate number NVF847) out from nowhere, some guys step down, I think they were around 7 or 8. One of them approached me by the window and asked what happened. I said the battery probably died and all of a sudden, some of the guys start installing their towing chains on the car and I told them to stop immediately.

The guy told me the car needs to be impounded near Ultra, and I was required to pay 4,500 to have the car back, he sounds like your typical cash obsessed asshole I asked him if they can pull us up to the Petron station near Blue Wave, he said it will be 2,500. I asked for any proof of receipts, they couldn’t provide one. I checked the markings of the tow truck and all I see is the number 78. Then my awesome dad called on my phone. He then talked to one the main guys and told them to wait for him. After the phone call, they immediately released the chains thing from the vehicle. Then another around 5 minutes of waiting, the main guy approached me again and said they are being called back in the office, so they left… hurriedly, probably hitting a 80kph in 5 seconds.

A few minutes passed by, another fresh tow truck arrived, complete with legit markings, and 5 men with IDs. They approached me by the window and talked the situation. He said they never put the chain tow thing unless authorized by the owner. He also said they mostly bring impounded vehicles in Ultra if it is in a violation or had an accident and vehicular breakdown is a different story. You can obtain your impounded car, in which the price you have to be pay reflects on the original cause of being impounded in the first place.

My dad arrived, talked to the new guys. Then few minutes later, they agree to pull the car all the way to Las Piñas for 2,000 pesos. They attached the chain tow thing, then in less than an hour. We are already in front of our house. We pay them 2000; we received a receipt, with complete information of the towing company. Rein and I also gave them individual 100 pesos for the effort, can also consider as a Christmas gift for them.

At home, we finally learned both the alternator and the car battery died. We got them fixed in the next few days, yet, whenever I drive that car, I feel the vehicle will died out again due to more vibrations and shakings. I am no car expert but I feel the newly repaired car has few mileages left and will meet its end in a year or two.

Now back in the road again, I think I should stop working in Makati and head back working in the south, preferably in Alabang or Las Pinas. Lesser gas consumption means more earnings.