Snapping into Bitag

I am a very average citizen, but sometimes, things just go haywire and I snap. I turn from a timid Pinoy to a blood-thirsty Roman waving his thumbs-down sign on a dying gladiator. After venting off my rage by writing, I revert into an average guy again.

Metro Manila is a place where there are many reasons to snap. And if you snap many times, then reverting back to normal becomes more difficult. I've recently snapped in favor of BITAG -- a television show that I once hated, but I now watch with pleasure and even encouragement.

There are many things to hate about BITAG. Host Erwin Tulfo is the most abrasive, arrogant reporter you'll ever find (and I hesitate to call him a reporter). He barges in on any office (usually corrupt police detachments) and berates the people in it -- presumption of innocence be damned. At the opening and closing of every episode, he is shown firing a gun, doing martial arts and driving his Hummer.

As a former broadcast journalist, I doubly hated BITAG since it broke all rules. But more and more, I see the importance of his tactics. In an environment were no one seems to be doing anything to protect us from criminals -- and where in fact the lawmakers and enforcers are the instigators of crime -- it seems to me that Tulfo is on the right track.

Forgive me on this. I was a victim of a couple of car accidents. One involved a bus whose owner was very arrogant and claimed friendship with generals. Another involved a tow truck whose crew and owner were so high and mighty that they they'd file a case against us (despite the fact that the truck was the one driving recklessly and scraped our car)!

Everybody knows that MMDA people get paid a commission from what the tow tucks earn. Hence, the tow truck operators and crewmen are pompous asses. I live near the MMDA depot in Pasig and two trucks often turn on their sirens even during unholy hours -- when there is clearly no need to do that.

Is this the only way to jolt abusers? Sure. But it's long, circuitous and difficult.
I've had a couple of friends too who had been victims of theft -- and in most cases, they were discouraged by the police from pursuing the case. Every Filipino knows this. It's useless to report a crime because the cops would only make excuses and treat your complaint as only more work for their miserable underpaid lives.

We could campaign to improve the justice system. We could campaign to eradicate corruption (probably by shooting all corrupt people). We could campaign to do this or that -- but we could only campaign and we can never control or directly influence them. In contrast, Tulfo has direct impact. I derive pleasure when I see him giving what the law abusers and criminals really deserve. I smile in amazement as he calls them "hinayupak", "tulisan" and other colorful terms which I find appropriate in the circumstances. His work is satisfactory for a victimized person like poor, ole me!

So I hope you understand the context of why I am beginning to see the need for Tulfo's tactics. If I were not a confused pacifist, I would be hoping for more Tulfos. I would gladly take the law into my own hands if I were not too busy (and a coward). So I'm glad Tulfo is doing it for me.

A fine line divides good taste and bad, subtlety and full-frontal attack.

In Metro Manila, things often conspire

I snap back and forth between these and recently my wife and I snapped

Erwin Tulfo

hinayupak, tulisan na may-ari ng towing truck