I really should just give up on Manila taxi drivers.  I think the only way for them to stop being so abusive is the legally-sanctioned threat of crowbar whacking across their faces if they do what they do best.

Do you know the socio-economic context of “Basta Driver, Sweet Lover” (If you’re a driver, you’re a sweet lover) stickers that pepper the dashboards of jeepneys, buses, and taxis?  Well, that rose into popularity in the 70s and 80s.

This is a very simplistic explanation but it makes for interesting discussion.

There was Oil Regulation decades ago, hence the price of fuel is relatively cheap.  So, if the drivers just exert more effort than usual with their routes they can earn a hundred pesos in a day to a couple of days.  That same amount would be a government employee’s salary for two weeks.  Since these drivers are making lots of money, (as one old timer put it “We had more cash than the police then.  That’s why the police were leeching off of us as well!”) the drivers had some extramarital and polygamous situations.  They were able to provide and thus the “Sweet Lover” label.

Well, oil regulation is here and demand easily outstrips supply and thus the skyrocketing fuel costs of fuel are inflicted upon us, with it the abusive taxi drivers.  Now, we are where we are in Manila with the cab drivers having the chutzpah of demanding more from you despite driving barefoot and the taxi looks like it was gang raped by a pack of rhinos.  And smells like it, too.

And of course, Christmas brings out the best in us.  So, is it any wonder if we are met by abuses by a lot of Manila cab drivers who are seen as among the world’s best swindlers?

BUT, having said that, the problem with Manila cab drivers is nothing compared to the bigger swindlers and criminals in the country.  Check this out, Pinoys, and see how your new year’s resolution can be factored to get rid of such animals.  To these animals, everyday is Christmas…until they are ratted out.