The Cebu City Council may be accused of being Ebednezer Scrooges with their ordinance that bans caroling on streets and on board jeepneys but the law is there for a good reason.
Ask any person who rides jeepneys daily if he or she isn’t annoyed by the sight and sound of children boarding the vehicles without warning and then breaking into song with the expectation of being given money for their performance.
Only persons blessed with the patience of Job (and his wealth) can welcome the presence of these young carolers, not to mention the smell of unwashed bodies and the pitch of off-key singing.
Many times the “performers” are sharp-eyed teenagers, who make one uneasy wondering if the visitor is a snatcher or some other juvenile delinquent. Who wouldn’t be suspicious when the kids poke people to ask for money.
Anticipating the public distrust and annoyance, these carolers would introduce themselves: “Mga ate, kuya, magpa music lang mi kadiyot. Ayaw lang mo kahadlok kay dili mi mga kawatan. (Aunties and Uncles, we’ll just give you a little music for awhile. Don’t be afraid because we’re not thieves.).”
Or so they sing.
To give a coin or two would encourage them to climb into more jeepneys and accost more passengers.
It’s difficult to feel the lightness of Christmas when one is pressed to fork over cash with these lightning carol attacks.
Beyond their admitted need to earn a living, the children should be kept out of moving vehicles. It’s dangerous to be hopping in and out like that. Spectators aren’t happy at all.
For passengers whose maternal and paternal instincts come to the fore, this is a clear situation of family neglect.
Before you shoo away the ragamuffins and invoke the law, pause awhile to consider the reasons street children are let loose and so persistent.
In a society where mendicancy is an age-old problem, the answers to poverty and family decay are not found in the grimy hands that reach out for your coins.
The youngsters and their annoying strategies are the consequence of a society that has forgotten how to take care of those with less in life.
In an ideal world, the jeepney brings the commuter safely to where he or she wills it. In the real world, that imp caroler is getting off, at no particular point, to an uncertain, possibly hazardous, future of more begging and petty crime.
Bring on the ordinance.
Enforce the law that banishes pesky children who disturb our routine lives. We don’t own their problems for the 30-minute commute. Their burden will remains ours long after we reach our destination.