DepEd Teacher Demands Disciplinary Action against Rude Jeepney Driver

In the Philippines, jeepneys are considered the ‘king of the road’ and  the easiest and most economical means of transportation for millions of Filipinos who ride on it each day.

Recently, a post on social media by Michelle Bungag Lopez, a teacher in DepEd Cavite caught the attention of netizens as she shared  her personal experience while riding a jeepney last June 22.

Here is Michelle’s story.

According to her, it happened around 11:00 o’clock that morning when she rode a jeepney bound for Molino, Cavite together with eight other passengers.  She first noticed that the driver was not presentably dressed up (undershirt and shorts) but didn’t mind so much about it.

What made her feel pissed off was when the driver did several stops at some points and called passers by “hoy” to get their attention to possibly ride on his jeepney.  Michelle also said that not only that, the driver gave money several times to traffic enforcers which the driver claimed was his way of getting excused for his traffic violations.

Michelle was about to reprimand the driver by that time but she said she was able to control her temper.  But the next thing that happened triggered her to burst out in anger.

Michelle continued her story saying when they reached Molino Elementary School,  three parents with their kids rode the jeepney. A parent had her child sit on her lap while the other two let their children sit beside them for the jeepney had vacant seats.

The three parents paid their respective fares of Php8.00 each when the driver yelled at the two parents and said, “Otso lng ibabayad nyo? Sa inaraw araw nyo na pagsakay nyo..eto lng ibabayad nyo.?! Obligasyon nyo na bayaran ang pamasahe ng mga batang yan!”

The two parents who did not pay the fares of their children  immediately let their children stand and didn’t say even a single word.   That was the time the teacher had her anger high so she reprimanded the said driver for being so rude to his passengers as it could have been said in a nice, polite way.

The DepEd teacher posted this incident on her Facebook account and called for action from the authorities so that this driver be given a disciplinary action for what seemed to be not right based on Michelle’s narration. However, her post earns different comments from netizens,  some siding on her and some on the driver’s.

For those concerned with the driver, they thought of giving him another chance as the latter may just be having a hard time considering he only had few passengers that day.  But most of Michelle’s friends commended her for doing so.

What can you say about this?  Does the driver really deserves to be punished or be given another chance?