Kuwentong LTO.

 About 11 years ago, after a traffic violation, I was sent to the LTO main office for a road safety seminar and exam before I could get my license back.

While taking attendance outside the seminar room, a staff member offered to let us “pass” the exam in exchange for a small bribe. I refused.

Inside, the staff announced that since only two of us refused to pay, everyone would automatically pass. The room erupted in applause.

We were still required to complete some sort of “seminar,” so they asked if we wanted to watch the NBA Finals instead of the safety videos—cue even louder cheering.

So for two hours, me and a roomful of traffic violators sat there and watched as the San Antonio Spurs clinched their fourth win against the Miami Heat to win the championship. Afterward, they handed out test sheets with answers already marked in pencil. Everyone simply shaded them in and passed.

At the final step, staff jokingly called out names like it was a graduation. People clapped as traffic violators “went up the stage” to get their licenses.

I’ve since kept my record clean long enough to be granted a 10-year driver’s license—which isn’t really difficult; renewal only requires a short online exam and a medical. As someone who spends more time on the road than at home because of work, I’m no longer surprised by the reckless drivers I encounter daily—not when the system meant to discipline traffic violators and promote safer driving is turned into a sick joke.

After this week’s tragic events, I can’t help but wonder if the people responsible for claiming those innocent lives and destroying families sat in that same room with me years ago—where, instead of being sternly reminded how to drive safely, we just watched a basketball game. Where, instead of having to prove we were still competent enough to operate large machines capable of killing, we walked away without even a slap on the wrist.

I cannot imagine the pain those families must be going through, but it would be an even greater tragedy if nothing is done to change the system that continues to claim thousands of lives each year—a system so rotten to the core that even those who try to resist it end up complicit.

If fixing that system requires that my privilege to drive be revoked—so that I have to reapply for that privilege under stricter, more rigorous standards—I would gladly do so, if it means the streets become safer for my family and everyone else.