Balato – The Problem With Filipinos

Ok I know a title like is just begging people to take me down. For one, it can be deemed as generalizing, and any half – wit patriot with nary the time nor patience to read and understand can and probably would bash me in at even its mention. But regardless, this is what I feel, and thus, what I shall write.

I’m talking about the amazing capability of many Pinoys for an unhealthy dose of entitlement. Entitlement in the context of Balato – the absolute perfect word describing wanting more than you deserve.

The incident that moved me to write this happened last night, but I’ve actually felt this way for many many years before that, and there are, to my count, 3 reasons I can clearly point to.

First, is that cab ride I had to take last night because my car’s in the garage. See, I live in a far away section of Cainta. And to take a cab from Ortigas, you’d have to traverse all the way across most of traffic infested Ortigas Extension, and then left and up our mountainous village to the very end. This merits, about 90% of the time, grimaces from cab drivers, and many a groan of disgust. Often I have to go through 3 to 4 different cabs until someone says yes, and most of the time I get requests for up to 25% to 50% more than the metered amount, presumably to ‘pay for their trip back’, since they won’t be picking up anyone going there – an absolutely twisted concept of value for money since, really, although difficult the situation may be, this is NOT my problem. Since the trip can cost from p110 to as much as p160, this is not an unnoticable amount.

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