Makulig!

You've most likely heard and read about the protest staged by the so-called "kuliglig" drivers and operators. 

"The three-wheeled kuliglig engines, usually small-capacity 5-cc engines, are made in China. A complete assembled kuliglig unit costs around P40,000, whereas a typical tricycle built for passenger transport costs around P100,000. Because a kuliglig would not pass the Land Transportation Office (LTO) standards for a legitimate vehicle, kuliglig operators so far have not been required to secure registration and pay a licensing fee. Kuliglig operators think that kuligligs could replace pedicabs and tricycles in the future. But it appears the Manila government thinks the three are just different varieties of the same pest." From GMA News.

Yes, I think kuligligs, pedicabs and tricycles are all pests. They crawl, they are dirty, they emit poison, and are dangerous to other vehicles and to their passengers.

Driving up North lately has become a hypertensive activity.  Once you get off NLEX and into the narrow highways of Bulacan all the way to Cabanatuan, you'd encounter these pests in the highways.  Years ago, tricycles were limited to back roads, villages, and side streets. Today, they traverse highways, major thoroughfares, inner streets, back lanes, and anywhere they can fit. 

The usual two and half hour drive to Cabanatuan becomes three or even four hours today, because of the tricycles and other pests that compete with public buses, cargo trucks, and private vehicles. 

It's dangerous and nerve wracking when you're going the legal speed (90 km/h) or faster and then suddenly confronted by a slow moving "kuliglig" or tricycle ahead of you. You either step on your brakes abruptly, which is super dangerous and bad for the engine, or pass the tricycle (great if there's no vehicle coming towards you, which is rare).

My bro-in-law told me one time that Cabanatuan is known as the trycicle capital of the Philippines, and I believed him. These contraptions literally fill every nook and cranny in that city.  But lately, Bulacan seems to be competing for the same title.

Here in Cainta and Pasig, the same scenario has been unfolding for a great number of years. Like in many cities, the kuligligs and the like, had been allowed only inside villages and in the back roads, but now operate recklessly all over the places. 

And what riles me most is that these drivers, like most Manila drivers, are offensive drivers, and unmindful of road courtesy and regulations.

How  many times have you heard of "kuliglig"-other -pest-type accident? A plenty. My brother and lately, my nephew figured in one.  My nephew's car got hit by a tricycle in Quezon City, and the driver looked so hapless that my nephew didn't charge him any damages.  Eons ago, my ex who was riding a trycicle from the "palengke" to her village house, got contusions when a car hit the tricycle she was on. A sister got into a similar accident.

Ban these pests from the major roads, I say.  Limit them inside villages, and back roads. I'm sure the riding public would welcome the change, because a lot of times, it's their life that's being put in jeopardy.