The Anti-wangwang campaign of Willard Cheng

By: Katherine Pearl D. Ting

Note: All of the pictures and tweets can be found in the timeline of Willard Cheng, including the complaints of the majority, the responds of the officials as well the video and picture of the first spotted vehicle in San Juan.

Campaigns originate in many ways and for many reasons, but Willard Cheng’s was quite the accidental one.

Walking along the streets of San Juan on September 23, 2012 gave Willard the opportunity of momentarily noticing a bus that belched such a thick and black smoke, so black that he could no longer see the bus’ plate number, it was a moment that gave way for the reason of Willard’s questioning of the implementation of traffic laws in the Metro Manila.

Not having been a really active user of Twitter before, Willard still opted to post the picture of the bus he saw that Sunday afternoon on that site. It was then that he received a number of complaints about other blatant violation of traffic laws.

He knew then that there was a need for change and he wanted it done.

Twitter served as a useful tool for promoting his advocacy and even said, “When we saw progress in our campaign, however little they were, we realized the power of social media in getting instant feedback from citizens and immediately relaying this to the concerned authorities, prompting them to move. Fast.”

He then started to call the attention of concerned government agencies and mayors through this new found advocacy, “Suddenly, my Twitter account became a bridge between citizens and government officials and agencies. A number of my Twitter friends have been telling that their tweet complaints have been ignored for the longest time until this campaign,” Willard said.

His advocacy “primarily targets the notorious public vehicles that would load and unload passengers anywhere on the road, even in prohibited areas where signs are clearly posted.” It also aims to reduce, if not remove, the “road obstructions” that contributes greatly to the traffic congestion in Metro Manila and seeks to call the attention of local government units about “obvious violations of traffic laws but are being ignored by incompetent or corrupt enforcers.”

Willard views this advocacy as something that is not only meant for the side of government but also for the commuters, “a two-way thing. Walang titigil sa jeep o bus sa gitna ng daan kung walang pasaherong nag-aabang sa maling lugar.”

“It saddens me too that people cross the streets at the wrong place and time. It is worse to see students in uniform, supposedly educated, violating this very basic traffic rule. Nakakadismaya tuwing may hindi sumusunod sa basic rule na kapag pula ang stoplight, tumigil ka at ‘wag tumawid. May mga jeep at bus naman na green na nga ang ilaw, nakatigil pa rin sa kanto naghihintay ng pasahero.”

He refers to these law violators as “utak wangwang,” and shows hatred for their actions, like private cars that would power their way through the traffic congestion with their “blaring sirens” and let the other motorists suffer.

PNoy has already ended this abused practice, “We don’t see private vehicles with wangwang now. But the mentality remains,” Willard said. He points out that their mentality of feeling like an exemption of traffic rules remain. “It has to be stopped.”

This new found advocacy then turned into a campaign which desired to instill the value of road discipline and safety to both the people and the government agencies concerned in the matter and because people noticed that his campaign was seemingly like a crusade, the hashtag #krusadasakalsadawas born.

For the two weeks that the advocacy has been on-going, a number of officials have already responded to these presented needs. For one Manila Mayor, Alfredo Lim, was the first to respond, who promises to look into these complaints.

The complaints are also being forwarded to the proper offices within the MMDA with the help of MMDA’s Yves Gonzalez; he has also served as a means in fixing the several traffic lights in Manila, “For that, the kakrusadas are thankful,” Willard said.

The Kakrusadas have also been reporting about the street children and families cleaning cars during stops even if it against the motorist’s will, DSWD Secretary, Dinky Soliman has quickly responded to this by sending social workers in areas having this kind of problem.

Other offices that have contributed for the krasadas are: @MakatiTraffic, @PasigInfo and Pasig Mayor, Bobby Eusebio, the @LTFRB_Official: which has been moving to look into complaints against erring buses and jeepneys, and the Palace (@govph).

“There (has) been concrete progress here and there,” Willard said in reaction to the increase of traffic enforcers and a citing of these enforcers chastising PUV (public utility vehicle) drivers to load and unload passengers in the appropriate and areas for such. “Pero kulang pa.Consistent enforcement is the key until following traffic rules becomes a habit for most, if not all, people,” Willard added.

However, the Quezon City Mayor, Herbert Bautista has yet to respond even though there are numerous complaints regarding the area. Willard was able to contact the mayor’s chief of staff through text and replied that, “he would ask his staff to work on creating a Twitter account so that they can hear their constituents’ complaints,” and they have not heard from him since.

Willard hopes that this new found advocacy of his will benefit everyone who uses the road: commuters and motorists alike, for them to have more safety and experience less traffic and road obstructions if traffic rules would be strictly and consistently enforced.

“My dream is to see Metro Manila, if not the whole Philippines, becoming like Singapore. There, I don’t even see a traffic enforcer on the streets because they don’t need one. People follow the traffic laws. Kung pwede sa kanila, bakit hindi pwede sa Manila, Quezon City at buong Metro Manila? Maganda sanang tignan na kahit gabi at wala ng nakatingin, sumusunod lahat sa batas trapiko at titigil kung naka-red ang stop light. I want that dream fulfilled. With everyone’s help and cooperation, I believe this is possible,” Willard says as the interview comes to an end.