Car Accident
In the category of “only in the Philippines” and/or “you can’t make this sh*t up”…..
One evening recently J and a co-worker (who we’ll call S) were headed back home to BGC after a late afternoon meeting near the airport. For context, that drive of less than 4 miles usually only takes about 40 minutes in typical horrible Manila traffic. On this night though, due to unknown circumstances, the drive was much worse than usual—much much worse.
Getting the first ½ mile out of the airport took almost 20 minutes, traveling one excruciating foot at a time.
In metro Manila there are typically no lines marking the divide between lanes, and it is not uncommon for four “lanes” of traffic to become two lanes without any signage or warning. In that case, it is just a matter of angles and timing to fit your vehicle in front of the next one while at all times watching for and avoiding the continual flow of motor scooters making their way in between cars.
After about 45 minutes in the car (having traveled just one mile at this point), J and S (the driver) came to one of those lane reduction bottle necks. As they slowly inched forward, there was a concrete barrier on the right and a much nicer, newer Toyota four door truck on the left.
The merge continued, and neither S’s 2004 Camry nor the truck were giving way. Eventually with neither giving way and the lanes converging, the driver’s side mirror of S’s car started scraping the passenger door of the truck.
Given the concrete barrier inches from the right side of the Camry, and the truck literally stuck to its left side, there was no way to get out of the car or move.
J was a little bit panicked, but S who had lived in Manila for longer was not fazed. “Watch this,” he said.
A police office positioned at the intersection about 20 yards ahead walked over to where the vehicles were sitting. He took a 5 second look at what had happened, checked his cell phone, and went back to where he had been.
S rolled down his window and waited for the other driver to engage. After several minutes, the passenger side window of the truck rolled down and the driver leaned over yelling “YOU HIT ME!!!!” S calmly said “no, you hit me.” That same exchange went back and forth for a couple minutes with neither changing the script.
Eventually S asked the other driver what he wanted to do. The other driver said “you hit me, you owe me 10,000 pisos.” S said “no you hit me. Let’s go to the police station and file a report. I have insurance.” Almost nobody in the Philippines has auto insurance, and even if you do, it can take years for the claim to be settled and any payout to happen, so of course the other driver was not in favor of that option.
So the negation began.
The other driver came down to 5,000 pisos, and S again opted for the police station and insurance. 2,000 pisos….nope. 1,000 pisos……..nope, police and insurance. Finally, 500 pisos.
OK, 500 pisos.
Understanding the fault for the cosmetic damage to the cars was both drivers fault, at this point the entire situation was just an inconvenience. S handed the other driver 500 pisos, and the matter was resolved. The truck drove off, so S and J could start moving again.
J finally arrived home 2.5 hours after leaving his meeting, but only in Manila can you settle a minor car incident (which the police on scene didn’t give a hoot about) for less than $9.00 – yep, that’s right.