I am a full-time, stay-at-home mom and I seldom go out of the house except for weekly errands and holiday travels. And when we travel, I am busy minding our baby inside the car or busy looking at Waze for directions. Suffice it to say that I am not like most of the Filipino citizens who really experience the changes (some may say grave changes) that have been happening around the country day in and day out since Rodrigo Duterte took his seat as the Philippine President. But for me, as introverted as I am who normally don’t care about politics or what’s going on around the country, I think I have experienced enough so far to say that I have felt the change . Below are my experiences:

 

PILIPINAS 911 SITUATION

A few months back, my parents and nephews were put in a life and death situation. My dad texted my cell saying “emergency, pls. come fetch us, our lives are in danger”. I won’t anymore go into the details of what happened. Suffice it to say that they were being attacked and it’s a good thing that they had themselves locked up somewhere semi-safe for the time being.

I didn’t know what to do. I am not used to stressful situations so naturally I panicked! We live far from them and with the traffic it would take us 3-4 hours to get to them. What to do???!!! I’m not prepared for something like this!!! By the time we get to their place, they might be bleeding to death already! As I was scouring the net for police numbers, Mahal remembered that Digong just set up 911 at that time. That was the perfect time to give it a try. So with trembling hands, I immediately called the number of Pilipinas 911.

After a ring, someone already picked up and I immediately described the situation. The lady on the other line said that she will be the one to contact the police station near my parents’ place and to keep my line open for she will call again.

That calmed me down a bit and then we got our baby and his things and rode the car, heading to my parents’ place. After 15 minutes, the 911 lady called again saying the police was already there and the situation was being taken care of. That was really fast! I almost cried with relief! The lady kept calling me every 15 minutes just to make sure that we’re all okay and that indeed the situation has been taken care of. I really appreciated it! It made us somehow feel safe, looked after and secure given how grave the situation was.

A few hours later, we finally arrived at the barangay hall of my parents’ town and there we picked them up together with my nephews and for a little while, they lived with us until the fear and trauma subsided.

Thank you to Pilipinas 911 and the the present Digong administration. If this happened before his regime, I’m scared to think of what might have happened.

 

MANILA TRAFFIC SITUATION

I’ve been in a car that got caught by traffic enforcers twice in my whole life! First was a few years back when I asked a neighborhood driver to drive me to Mall of Asia Arena because I was going to watch the Jonas Brothers concert. It was my driver’s fault, he swerved along Edsa-Taft and to top it all off, my car’s registration has not been renewed yet. We got off the hook after paying the MMDA/police a considerable amount — P2K to be exact! I guess that’s better than the alternative.

Then a week ago, Mahal and I drove from SMX Aura. It was evening then and it was our first time there. We were using Waze as usual and the Waze was giving us wrong directions that we ended up U-turning somewhere we shouldn’t have. So we got caught. We explained our situation to the traffic enforcer. He asked where the driver was from and we said he’s from Cebu. They looked at the plate number, it says Region 7. The traffic enforcer asked for his license and indeed saw that his address is from Cebu. He even told the other traffic enforcer “Taga-Cebu nga talaga” (he really is from Cebu). We were ready to get tickets and to get reprimanded and everything but after a few minutes of checking, the traffic enforcer gave back Mahal’s license, told us where we should turn next time if we want to get to SLEX. They even said “pasensha na po” (forgive us). They let us go! No asking for money, no bullying, no nothing! OMG!!!

Again, thank you to the present Digong administration.

 

Citibank CREDIT CARD SITUATION

I’ve been a Citibank Credit Card user all my adult life since 22 years old! I never applied for any other card and just maintained this one which now can give me credit up to a million pesos if I want to. It’s what I use for groceries, travels, restaurants, everything! I don’t buy much. Just the usual things we need at home and occasional travel deals. I’ve also never used my rewards points since except to pay for the huge annual fee. So I was quite satisfied with it. Then come April of this year, I thought of using my rewards points. My most used watch is already tarnished and in poor condition (though still working) that I wanted to replace it with something new. But I don’t have budget for it so I was thinking of using my rewards points. I ordered and was excited to be getting it within that month only to receive an email from Citibank that the watch is not available. Okay fine. It’s alright. It’s probably not yet time for me to get a new watch. But where are my points???

To cut the story short, I have been emailing and calling them (using my mobile phone and wasting my precious load) since April to no avail! Then last October 26, I’ve had enough of this BS that my last email to them was not as nice anymore.

I told them that if they will not resolve my concern as soon as possible, I will direct my concern straight to Malacanang / Office of the President. Within that day, my points got credited back and to make sure I know this, they emailed me on a holiday (Nov. 1) just to let me know.

Again, thank you to the power of the new Philippine President!

 

MY TAKEAWAY

911 situation, traffic violation, Citibank fiasco — These are just 3 experiences where I’ve really felt “the change” President Duterte promised the Filipino people. It may be nothing for a lot of people, they may have felt better or graver changes in their lives and communities but these 3 changes meant a lot to me especially that my life revolves around my family and my home and most especially because I wasn’t expecting them. So thank you Papa Digong! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. May you stay strong and healthy and wise and may God guide you in everything you do.