Allow me to share with you Mars Dizon’s story. She is part of my Work-At-Home-Mom Facebook group and she posted this to make more people aware. I know this isn’t a first of its kind but I think it’s important we know the many different modus operandi out there.
Nothing happened to Mars, she was just frightened. But what if she obliged to the man? It could have been worse.
Similarly, Chuvaness posted something like this last week: On the road: More scary in the Philippines
Being victimized isn’t a joke. It’s scary. By God’s grace, I haven’t experienced anything like this inside a moving vehicle but there are a lot of robbery going on in the area where we live. I’m scared at times because I know we are being “watched”. I’ll share with you my story soon. For now, read Mars’ story and SHARE on your website or Facebook.
Today was the first time in more than 10 years that I once again drove to Makati. It was so traffic going to Buendia from Ortigas, took us almost 1 hour to get there. Going back, I took the wrong turn and ended in the Fort instead of Edsa. Naturally I was already in a bad mood trying to get out of the Fort to C5. Crossing the pedestrian road at the high street area there was a motorcycle that was slightly in the middle of the lane that was going very slow. My instinct was to blow my horn and slightly take the opposite lane to get passed him. Reaching the stop light the motorcycle to my surprise stopped to my left, a man in fatigue (the kind that I only saw for the first time) was signaling me to pull my windows down. Recently reading about horror stories about pretend cops that would flag you down and would turn out to be hold uppers came to mind so I thought I need to be careful. I lowered the window to a level just so I could hear what he was saying. He said “ano problema mo? Ibaba mo yang bintana mo”. I said “wala”. He said, “nakita mo na naka uniporme ako, halika sa police station dun tayo mag-usap!” I told him “wala akong violation, wala akong violation”. Seeing that the road was free, and being confident that there was nothing wrong I did, I continued to drive. To my fright, the man continued to follow me. I was so scared because Roni is beside me sleeping. He continued to follow me and I was already anticipating that he would try to block my way just to make me stop. I continued to drive normally, trying not to drive faster and make me look that I was guilty with anything. I was constantly looking at my rear view mirror and to my sides to see where he was. Upon exiting the Fort, he made a u-turn and stopped. That made me relax a bit. But he signaled an MMDA on a motorcylce to follow me. I even saw the MMDA signaling to the man and was asking him “eto ba?”. This made me nervous again. Entering C5 I was trying to find my cellphone but could not find it! The MMDA was following at this time but from a distance. He was following until I crossed Kalayaan road and seemed to vanish in a few seconds. This incident surely gave me a fright! I am so glad that they stopped following.
I just want to share lessons I learned from the experience:
- Pray, when you find yourself in trouble, remember to pray.
- When driving, always try to keep your cool no mater how annoying pedestrians or other motorists can be.
- Always have your cellphone at hand. Place it somewhere in your car where you can easily reach it. Have enough charge every time you leave home.
- When you know you have done nothing wrong, be confident and be ready to defend yourself. Do not allow anybody to scare you. Do not be afraid of men in uniform that will take advantage of their positions or power to intimidate you. If you have done nothing wrong then say it straight to their face.
- Lastly, be grateful. Be grateful that God has kept you safe
Stay safe everyone!
I don’t wish these things to happen to anyone. Others had it worse. I don’t know what I’ll do if I were in her place. Honestly, I don’t feel safe anywhere anymore, even inside the house. But thank God that He is there to protect us.
Light, space, zest—that’s God! So, with him on my side I’m fearless, afraid of no one and nothing. When vandal hordes ride down ready to eat me alive, Those bullies and toughs fall flat on their faces. When besieged, I’m calm as a baby. When all hell breaks loose, I’m collected and cool. Psalm 27:1-3 (The Message)