Those who do not reason their intentions through but act on them are what my Canadian friend calls, the psychopaths. They kill, they steal, they have no respect for their environment. They do what they want because they don’t have the ability to think through an action to its consequence before acting on it. It’s not because they don’t have any idea between right and wrong, it’s because they can’t think morally. Laws do not stop us from doing and getting what we want. As we all know, it has never stopped even the world leaders from killing citizens of other countries, or from stealing what is not theirs. Laws effect punishment, but it does not prevent the act.

Filipinos aren’t law-abiding citizens. We all know that. If we can get away with it, we’ll do it. We are so used to not following rules, and seeing our elected leaders flaunt their illegal activities that a small illegal act on our part is nothing. What does it matter if we break a law when we know that the people above us are doing worse? Why fear breaking a law when we can pay our way out of it?

In Tacloban for example,, a ‘No Parking’ sign is useless if we can double-park and keep our hazard lights blinking, a policeman won’t give us a ticket because the blinking light means "we’ll just be a minute", in the meantime, causing traffic on an already congested two-laned street. Tacloban’s Gomez St is the worst street in Tacloban. Tricycles will double park while they unload their passengers, and the vehicles following behind will have to stop and wait; private cars will double park while they wait for their passengers to buy something from a shop, and meantime, the street becomes more and more congested. Cops watch all this indifferently, maybe they think it’s not their job to educate motorists. Maybe they are tired of educating the arrogant rich and apologetic poor motorists alike. A two-laned road with cars parked on both sides, cars and tricycles loading and unloading passengers, tricycles slowing down to scout for passengers or squeeze in between cars, the traffic crawling at 5kph with lots of stops and rage. Except for some mumbled complaints and late appointments, the traffic is accepted as just a slow, accident-free and uneventful provincial everyday life. We reason that if there is no need to, it’s best to avoid driving in this street in the middle of a hot day.

My sister met me at the Manila airport recently. As we overtook some cars while turning a corner, a policewoman flagged us down. She was all frowns as she approached our car. When my sister rolled down her window, the first thing she said was that it was her first offense, to please just let her go because she wasn’t really ‘swerving’ because the usual ‘swerving’ yellow paint on the road was white. The policewoman asked for her license, walked away with it to the other cops, and when she came back she said apologetically, "ma’am, sorry ma’am, but you were really swerving...ma’am, you have a unique name", and she was now all meaningful smiles. My sister surreptitiously gave her a P100 bill asking her if this was enough to let her go. The woman accepted the money and said, "so this will not cause any problem?" (meaning this wont be reported to the media?). My sister said, ‘no, no problem at all.’ Then we were allowed to go. She said to me, if you think you can pay your way out of it, then do it. It’s done all the time. I was calculating that if those cops flag down 50 cars in one day, that would be an estimate of P5,000 divided by 3 (because there were 3 of them), that’d be P1,666 for each of them in one day. That was more than the P400 a day salary that they each earn. P1,666 is not a realistic figure though, because obviously they won’t be able to flag down 50 cars even in Manila, nor will each car pay only P100. So the figure could be higher or lower. The going rate is P100 though. But to sell your dignity for P1,666? This is just one example of what’s going on in the Manila traffic scene. It’s a known fact, policemen allow themselves to be bribed, and violators choose to bribe the cops as opposed to attending a half-day seminar and paying a higher fine. If you can get away with as many ‘first offense’ as you can, why not? That’s what the majority of Filipinos do. Not follow rules.

Two days later, we were driving inside the Subic Bay Freeport. Over there, road rules are followed, or you get a ticket. The police are unbribable too, so knowing that you can’t get away with it, you follow the rules. If the speed limit is 50kph on wide and empty 6-laned roads, you’d better keep your speed limit at 50kph, however tempted you are to race. The police there have scanners and radios. And they use them. If the rule says no overtaking, then don’t overtake. When it says stop at Stop-painted roads (specified ‘Stop with the car at full stop, and not only slowing down’), better make a full stop even if there are no cops around. And when you get lost, there are policemen stopping you and turning you back to the ‘open to the public’ roads. It’s like being always under Big Brother’s sight. The Filipino in me was quaking with nervousness. As we all know, Subic Bay used to be an "off-limits to all Filipinos" American military base. When they left after their 99-year lease expired, the base was turned into a free port of American goods (duty free shops where the goods are not taxed by our government, bad news for our economy but good news to the few privileged buyers). And turned into tourist adventure trips, and whatever illicit activities government officials may not want the public to know. What was maintained was the military-like way the base was run, so you get a taste of what it would be like driving in the states. You get a taste of what it’s like trying to follow rules every moment of your life. And because we’re not used to following rules, we get anxious and nervous... we’re feeling guilty even before we commit an act.

In this way, not acting on a crime or morally wrong action is not moral imagination. It’s following a rule that others have imposed on you. It’s depriving you of thinking for your own. Yes there’s peace and order, but I wondered, could I ever live in an antiseptic place like that where every action is monitored and recorded? Could I ever live a life feeling stifled by rules, not being able to decide for myself what is right and what is wrong? Is this what democracy and freedom are all about?

I’ve never understood what the fuss in George Orwell’s novel 1984 was all about, until we drove out of the camp’s gate the next day, and heaved a huge sigh of relief. At least outside, even if there are road rules, we decide on our own whether driving at 140kph on a 100kph road is wise or not. At least we know that there are no hovering eyes watching our every move, in every corner. At least, we know we are free to act the way we want to without the fear of doing something we’re not supposed to. Or wondering if what we’re doing is wrong or right. Amidst the chaos of Asian living, we enjoy our own kind of freedom. After all, freedom is not exclusively American, it’s subjectively universal.

An American friend of mine once commented why with Asia’s chaotic traffic she hasn’t seen one accident yet. What invisible rules do we follow when driving? Obviously, she couldn’t see one, and when she could, no one seemed to be following it. She said that in the States, there are road rules everywhere and almost everyone follows them, yet she sees an accident at least once a day.

I think that’s the secret. We don’t follow rules made for us, we follow our own rules. We don’t commit crime not because we’re told not to but because we know with our common sense that it’s not morally right to hurt others. We don’t break road rules not because it’s a traffic violation to do so, but because we can get away with it. We drive crazy because we can intuitively feel the pulse of everyone else’s driving.

At Subic, we stopped at a red light for a minute. I could hear my watch ticking as we waited and waited for the light to turn green. We were the only car on the crossroad, the only car as far as our eyes could see.