Road Rage

(Originally published in the June 30 to July 6, 2013 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

YOUR Self-Propelled is throwing his support to fellow media practitioner EV Espiritu for rejecting an ‘areglo’ out of instant and obviously insincere apology from Frederick de Ausen Pati, the officer-in-charge of the Philippine Retirement Authority following a road altercation the other week.

EV was on his way home in Bakakeng Old Site when the taxi he took yielded to a speeding government vehicle driven by Pati who, road courtesy dictates, should have dimmed his headlights. But instead of politely accepting EV’s reminder to dim his glaring headlights, Pati --- obviously drunk --- yelled back: “Ano’ng problema mo?! Red Plate ito!”

Not satisfied, Pati got off his vehicle and confronted EV. “P__ang inamo! Kilala kita tagarito rin ako!,” Pati barked at EV. Pati then turned his ire to the taxi driver and repeatedly punched him in the face.

It could have been a different story if Pati had a gun.

As of this writing, EV has formally filed a complaint before the Civil Service Commission. Meanwhile, Pati, in a regional news television, said people should already stop making a big deal out of it because he already apologized to EV. Pati also said he already wrote a letter of apology which he coursed through Philippine Information Agency Cordillera Regional Director Helen Tibaldo. Much to her surprise, Ms. Tibaldo however finds her being dragged by Pati into the picture as unnecessary.

About a year ago, Self-Propelled had the chance to interview Pati who then bragged thatforeign retirees (including Filipinos themselves who may not necessarily relinquish their foreign citizenship) are attracted to the Philippines as their post-retirement homes (either seasonal or permanently) because of the Filipino’s innate friendly and hospitable traits.

“Baguio is still the best place to retire,” he said.

On the same week of that interview, Self-Propelled talked about road rage as a serious threat to public safety.

As an extreme case of aggressive driving, it can be unsafe, thereby threatening other motorists as well as pedestrians. Experts claim that traffic congestion may be considered as a contributing factor to driver frustration subsequently leading to road rage. It includes rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats, leading to verbal altercations, physical assaults, and collisions which result in injuries and even deaths.

  

As early as 1997, therapists in the US have been working to certify road rage as a medical condition. In fact, it is already an official mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

In a survey funded by the National Institute of Mental Health of some 9,200 adults in the US between 2001 and 2003, it concluded that “the behaviors typically associated with road rage are the result of intermittent explosive disorder”.

Sadly, there are no comprehensive road rage statistics in the Philippines. But we can cite some.

Last year, Robert “Blair” Carabuena, a resourcing supervisor of Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp., was caught on video by while mauling Metropolitan Manila Development Authority traffic enforcer Saturnino Fabros who called Carabuena’s attention for a wrong turn at the corner of Capitol Hills Drive and Tandang Sora in Quezon City.

On July 2, 1991, 25-year-old Eldon Maguan, a De La Salle University student, was driving his car down a one-way street in San Juan and nearly collided with Rolito Go's vehicle, which was traveling the wrong way. Go got off his car and shot Maguan who died a few days later.

Go was convicted in 1993 of murder in absentia after he escaped from the Rizal Provincial Jail before the sentencing. Go was finally caught in 1996 in Pampanga and then served his life imprisonment sentence at the New Bilibid Prison. Early this year, Go was transferred from the prison's maximum security facility to the minimum security area, allowing him to walk around the facility without security escorts. 

On November 18, 2009, 27-year-old Renato Victor Ebarle Jr.’s vehicle had nearly collided with another SUV driven by Jason Ivler on Santolan Road, Quezon City.

Ivler, 27, stepped out of his car with a diplomatic plate number and shot Ebarle three times at close range through the car's windshield and then escaped. Ivler’s SUV was later traced to Stephen Pollard, a British economist at the Asian Development Bank.

Ivler, the son of Pollard’s wife Marlene Aguilar (Freddie Aguilar’s sister) from a previous marriage, is “a highly trained soldier” from the US Special Operations command who had been sent to ‘risky’ missions in Iraq and who received an “honorable discharge” in October 2008. Ebarle is the son of an undersecretary for the Office of the Presidential Chief of Staff.

Another motorist, Manolito Cuya, said that the night before Ebarle was killed, that Ivler pointed a gun at him in Quezon City after he blew his horn at Ivler’s vehicle, saying: “Masuwerte ka may kasama kang mga bata. Pero pag nakita kita uli, papatayin na kita (You're lucky you have children with you. If I see you again, I'll kill you).” Cuya was with his wife, sister-in-law, daughter, and niece at the time.

Ivler also figured in a 2004 vehicular accident on the C-5 Ortigas flyover that killed Nestor Ponce, then Presidential Adviser for Resettlement, and injured Ponce’s wife and another passenger. Ivler posted bail and attempted to flee to Malaysia by boat. On January 18, 2010, he was arrested by NBI agents in his mother's home in Quezon City. Two NBI operatives were wounded after Jason instigated a shootout. Ivler sustained gunshot wounds in his right shoulder and in his abdomen that cut through his spleen and large intestines.

Also early last year, Customs Commissioner Paulino Elevado and his companion mauled a 20-year old student during a traffic altercation along the South Luzon Expressway. Elevado then shot at the student’s vehicle as he drove off in his PhP5-million Porsche.

On June 21, 2009, a traffic altercation turned into a deadly family feud, leaving six people dead.

The trouble started at a traffic jam on the Nueño Avenue in Imus, Cavite as Sowaib Salie repeatedly honked his vehicle's horns at the car in front driven by Raul Bautista. A confrontation erupted when both motorists arrived at the public market. Bautista then left the scene only to return with reinforcement. A burst of firefight left six people dead, including Bautista, his two sons and the family driver. Salie and his fellow trader Mahmod Sultan also died.

In 1998, Feliber Andres family's All Saints’ Day eve pilgrimage to the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina turned tragic when their vehicle nearly collided with the one driven by Inocencio Gonzalez.

Noel Andres tailed Gonzalez’ vehicle first before he cut his path which resulted in a confrontation between the two motorists. Gonzalez pulled out a gun and shot at the Andres’ vehicle, hitting Andres and his pregnant wife, their two-year old son, and their nephew. Feliber did not survive the attack but the doctors were able to save her baby. Gonzalez was found guilty of murder and two counts of frustrated murder in 1999. The Supreme Court then modified the 2001 trial court's decision, finding him guilty of homicide.

On January 10, 2003, Jay Llamas was traversing Taft Avenue when his car was bumped by a motorcycle. Llamas and the unnamed motorcycle driver got into a heated argument which ended when the suspect drew a gun and shot Llamas at close range three times --- twice in the head and once in the body.

On October 2, 2007, Edgardo Canizares was traveling with a passenger along Gen. Roxas Street near the corner of Shaw Boulevard when his Nissan Cefiro almost hit the car of Manuel Hernandez Jr., a Pasig City Hall legal officer and nephew of a Sandiganbayan Justice.

Hernandez was reportedly driving against the flow of traffic, prompting an angry Canizares to get out of his car and insult Hernandez. Hernandez pulled out a gun and shot Canizares four times and his passenger, twice.*