LizzBuenaventura.com

My car has been in the shop for the past week so I had to take a jeepney around the university today, and while I was enjoying the nostalgia of riding the most mundane of public transportation vehicles, I noticed a large-ish sign taped to the back of the driver's seat. It was a Student Announcement, calling their fellows to "Support the Livelihood of Drivers" by saying "NO" to the newly-implemented One-Way Academic Oval Scheme.

Now, for my readers who have never been to the University of the Philippines' main campus, I have illustrated a map below:



(This is a super simplified version, as there are many more colleges behind the ones accessible through the main road). Anyway, the red arrow represents the new one-way traffic scheme. It used to be two-way, but now regardless of where you're going, you have to make a full circle.

It's a bit of a hassle and has disrupted the route of the jeepneys a bit, but all in all it's a pretty decent setup because there's much less traffic now.

Anyway, because of this tiny little thing, students are kicking up a fuss and claiming that "the Man" has yet again tried to step on the poor, hardworking jeepney drivers. UP students have always been quick to jump the gun (student activists are the reason why our shopping center is a dilapidated pile of crap instead of an Ayala-owned Mall), and I wouldn't be surprised if they started rallying on the steps in the next week or so.

For all their brilliance, I have always felt that UP students have been perennial "rebels without a cause". I was pretty much a loud-mouthed debate whore during my first few years in UP, but now that I'm on the final year of my second degree, I think I've finally managed to mellow. (I'm still a debate whore, mind you, but not quite as loud mouthed.)

It's important to stand up for your beliefs, but there's a difference between standing up for your beliefs and just being an impediment to progress.

:/