The taxi driver who was bringing her to the airport was as impatient as she was.
It was a heavy traffic they were in caused by the collision of a cargo truck and a Sarao passenger jeepney at the crossroad of EDSA and Santolan St.
Michael may have been waiting for her at the airport, she thought. He told her last night that he would just proceed there from his meeting with Col. Jimmy Punzalan at the Civil Relations Service office in Camp Aguinaldo.
Irritantly, she asked the driver why cargo trucks were allowed to ply Santolan road at day time.
“Hindi ko alam. Matagal na po yang mga trucks na iyan. Kahit makikipot na kalye, pumapasok sila,” the driver answered.
Irritantly, she asked the driver why cargo trucks were allowed to ply Santolan road at day time.
“Hindi ko alam. Matagal na po yang mga trucks na iyan. Kahit makikipot na kalye, pumapasok sila,” the driver answered.
“Sa Hong Kong po, bawal pumasok ang mga cargo trucks sa busy streets,” Chrysanthemum said.
“Dito po sa atin, puwede ang lahat. Kahit mga smoke belching buses, hinahayaan. Nakakainis nga!” the driver remarked.
“Palagay ko po traffic policy ang kulang natin,” she said.
“Siguro nga,” he answered, wondering what a traffic policy was.
The Toyota taxi they were riding in had been stranded at EDSA for more than one hour now. It was 11:45 A.M., and she should check-in at the airport at least an hour before her 1:30 P.M. scheduled flight.
“Bulletin! Chronicle! Inquirer! Bulletin! Chronicle! Inquirer!” The newsboy approached their taxi.
“Pakisabi po sa boy, Bulletin,” she told the taxi driver.
He opened his window and beckoned the newsboy to come.
“Bulletin!” the driver shouted.
She gave the driver a five peso bill. The driver handed it to the newsboy who hurriedly gave back the P2.50 change. Then, he went a way.
“Sukli, Miss,” the driver said as he handed the change to her.
The picture on the front page which caught her attention showed the lifeless body of a Presidential Security Group officer slained by members of the Sparrow Unit of the New People's Army in a busy street in Pandacan. The officer's body sprawled in his car, his head oozing with blood.
The accompanying story cited propaganda as a major reason for the slaying. It was timed during the visit of US Vice President Dan Quayle.
The communists wanted to project strength to arrest their decline, and one way to do this was to strike an officer of the Presidential Security Group in broad daylight right in the heart of Metro Manila.
She turned to the editorial page. The editorial condemned the senseless killings in the country, and called for unity among Filipinos in the effort of preventing a further escalation of violence.
Just a few days before the killing of the PSG officer, two Americans were killed in Capas, Tarlac by the NPAs.
The killings were also timed for the visit of Quayle. Propaganda was the foremost objective. The communists wanted to project internationally their opposition to the existence of the US bases in the Philippines. To dramatize the opposition, they killed two American civilians.
The NPAs promised to kill more Americans if the bases were not dismantled.
Sadness crept in her heart as she thought of the victims, their widows, and their orphans.
The communist revolution had brought all their sorrows, she thought.
Michael came to her mind again, the only man she had loved.
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