Sad encounter

Motorists who have had unpleasant run-ins with abusive traffic enforcers are giving that Maserati driver, in his 15 minutes of infamy, the benefit of the doubt.

Joseph Russell Ingco claims he was the victim in what he described as a “truly sad” encounter with traffic enforcer Jurve Adriatico of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) last week.

Video footage of the incident, however, shows only one man looking like the victim – and it’s Adriatico, being dragged for several meters alongside the Maserati, with Ingco (by his own admission) behind the wheel. We thought that sort of punishment ended with the Wild, Wild West.

Ingco claims Adriatico threw the first punch, prompting the driver to hit back – and what could he do if he slugged harder than the traffic aide even while driving?  Adriatico has a broken nose and may have to undergo surgery to fix it, while Ingco has nothing to show for the alleged initial attack.

It didn’t help that it took some time for Ingco to come up with his story about being the aggrieved party. And when he surfaced, it was with a lawyer by his side – not exactly a figure trusted to uphold the truth in this country.

Instead of immediately filing a complaint against a supposedly abusive traffic aide (who meanwhile readily faced the TV cameras to show his broken nose), Ingco headed home, parked the Maserati in the condominium garage and protected it (I’m not saying concealed it) with a car cover.

As the video footage spread and attention turned to the only two blue Maserati Ghiblis that have been sold to private owners in the Philippines, someone – obviously not Ingco – took photos of the parked car, pulling off the cover slowly, like a striptease.

Because of the type of car and personalities involved, the story quickly became an issue of class arrogance. Persons with a penchant for fast cars that scream “look at me” tend to be stereotyped in this country as arrogant hotheads who most sorely miss the good old days when they could part traffic like the Red Sea with wang-wang or siren and blinker.

As in other stereotypes, the profiling is rarely accurate or fair. The only sure description shared by Maserati owners in this developing nation – whether it’s the Ghibli (about P3.5 million) or the higher-end models (up to P12 million, depending on the specs) – is that they can afford the hefty price tag.

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There’s a traffic aide of the local government who regularly mans a busy intersection with no stoplight in my neck of the woods. He’s short, shriveled-skinny and the color of mahogany. He looks 70, but he’s probably much younger than he looks or he wouldn’t qualify to be a traffic aide.

The age and undernourished appearance do not seem to get in the way of his enthusiastic performance in manning traffic. He uses energetic, often dramatic gestures to direct motorists, tipping his cap or saluting to greet familiar faces.

He has the look of someone who has spent much of his life under the sun, and not for leisurely activities.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes, in his loose-cannon attack on Jejomar Binay, received flak for saying the Vice President is “kulay mahirap, asal mahirap.” Only Trillanes knows what “asal mahirap” or behavior of the poor is, but Trillanes is not the only Pinoy who associates Binay’s dark skin color with poverty. The VP seems to relish enhancing his “Nognog” image, meeting people around the country garbed like a port stevedore.

Pinoys do have class prejudices associated with physical stereotypes. From centuries of being colonized by Caucasians, fair skin has come to be associated with social status and a life of privilege, whereas dark skin is associated with toiling in the sun to eke out a living.

This is one of the reasons for the popularity of skin whiteners, with the latest product innovation a whitener for women’s intimate parts. (It would be interesting to find out whether this was the idea of a man or a woman.) The color bias is not unique to the Philippines; skin whiteners are popular all over Asia.

Stereotypes can be a disadvantage. An Asian expat who regularly invites Philippine officials to dinner and is a keen observer of local politics told me he didn’t think Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano stands a chance of becoming president. Why? Because, the expat said, Cayetano is “too white” (his mom is an American) and has the look of a pampered person with the right surname who has never had to work too hard for anything in his life.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, although no mestizo like Cayetano, has the same image albatross around his neck, the expat observed.

A similar image problem is working against Ingco, who fits the Pinoy’s profile of the spoiled rich. Ingco was described by the Malay-looking Adriatico as a mestizo.

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Some traffic enforcers can be absolute morons, abusive and lazy – but all professions (ours included) have their share of rotten eggs. The term “kotong cop” was not coined whimsically; it mostly refers to traffic enforcers.

But there are also VIPs tooling around in luxury cars or tailed by security convoys, believing that wealth or their position puts them above traffic rules and the law.

The mindset works both ways. There are traffic cops who believe some are more equal than others and look the other way when they see convoys of heavily tinted SUVs ignoring stoplights and traffic rules.

Such traffic aides believe – often correctly – that it’s too much trouble to have a run-in with a lawmaker, governor, mayor, their relatives and even mistresses over something like running a red light.

Sometimes when a traffic aide musters the nerve to pull over a VIP convoy – and finds out who it is – the aide may even ask for a better paying job from the VIP. Or, if it’s a movie star, ask for an autograph and selfie before sending the offender on his way, without a traffic citation.

Pride in the uniform – which makes cops in countries such as the US, for example, toss even show biz superstars and government VIPs in jail for a night or two over minor infractions – has to be instilled in Philippine traffic enforcers.

This deference to VIPs and entertainment celebrities is manifested, in worse ways, in heavier offenses. It’s one of the factors that weaken the rule of law.

So when a traffic enforcer looks like he’s breaking the mold and doing his job, public opinion is on his side.