HOW TO NOT STUFF YOUR EARS WITH COTTON BALLS

HOW TO NOT STUFF YOUR EARS WITH COTTON BALLS

By Wilhelmina S. Orozco

Noise management is not a very hot topic in our country. When a city is noisy, or when a neighborhood is, the people just cup their ears and allow those noisemakers, perhaps the videoke singers, to just scream their songs on top of their lungs.

I really am so sensitive to noise. In our neighborhood, I have already complained twenty thousand times against those tricycles and motorcycles plying the streets to the barangay tanod and the office, but nothing has happened. They have not required the drivers or owners to put silencers in them. If you complain, they do something, but just for that moment. The problem resurfaces and then you have to complain again. For so many years I was able to do that because my celphone has a globe super duo so I can call people and talk to them endlessly, those with landlines. But now no more. It is too expensive for me to maintain.

So what should I do now?  I also complained to the Dept of Public Order and Safety, but I have been told by a padyak driver that a policeman controls all the tricycles in our neighborhood. So he dictates whether they should have a silencer or not. And this padyak driver is complaining because he and his group, although they possess all the necessary papers cannot even line up to get passengers near the supermarket nearby. They are being harassed because they could get more passengers due to cheaper fares. Padyak or those three-wheeled carts do not use oil. Kaya tinawag na padyak, umaandar sa pamamagitan ng pagpadyak lamang.

Last Sunday, I was trying to finish a painting for Itthe PAGCOR contest, with the theme, “It’s more fun in the Philippines.” In front of our house, the building being constructed was noisy, has been noisy for more than 6 months already. First the noise came from the concrete mixers which would come in the dead of night to pour cement; then came the welding of steel bars for the windows. I complained about this but nothing has been done.

So as I was being pressed for time to meet the deadline already, I called the barangay to force those people to stop their welding tasks. Then I suggested that if they meet resistance, then the tanod should confiscate the machines. In between those calls, I also called 117, the emergency hotline of the DILG – the operator called up the barangay to fix the problem. After a few minutes, I experienced silence.

But then at the back of our house, a couple of carpenters were fixing the roof, hammering here and there. So I had to talk to them – please, it’s Sunday; we should honor God’s rest day. It’s a mortal sin to work today. “Thou shalt keep holy the Sabbath day,” nakasulat yan sa Bibliya. At kung lalabagin ninyo, magiging makasalanan kayo.”

No they did not stop. So I added, “Makakarma kayo niyan. Babalik sa inyo yan.”

At 12;30 they stopped. But then the neighbors’ dogs started barking incessantly. Then I remembered what a Shi Fu had told me, you can will not to hear anything.

So after all that noise was gone, I was able to finish the painting, albeit not so perfectly. But I am satisfied with the results, as the images in the painting are all relevant to the theme. Wish me luck, and pray that I win Folks. I need the moolah to pay off my celphone bills which are boring holes in my wallet and pockets.

This afternoon, as I was walking back home, I heard a videoke singer. Now why in the world would a young girl be singing a love song at such a high volume? Does she want other people to recognize her talent? But that is not the way it is done.

You see, Folks, I hardly hear of any cultural program in our barangay, save a series of basketball games. The games are even introduced to the community with a parade of the players wearing their uniforms, and a band wearing white uniforms and playing their musical instruments. A girl in short shorts leads them, holding a baton and turning it around and around with one hand.

Another time, I was commuting in a jeep and then suddenly a van driver started honking. The sound of his horn was piercing to the ears and so I had to tell him off. Natawa siya. He did not expect anyone to complain about it as he must have though that people would appreciate being hurried up so that the traffic would be solved by the police guys and women. The next thing that happened, he stopped honking; and my fellow jeepney passengers looked at me, amazed how I could stop that guy at all.

It is always instinctual for me to complain about noise,. I think Folks, for us to be creative, we need silence. We can’t afford to have a very noisy country. You must have read of people being killed for having used the videoke. If you live in a community and you hear one who cannot even distinguish one note from another, then you would really feel like raising hell at all costs. Neither could we be stuffing our ears with cotton balls so as to deaden the noise. It does not work you see, 

I think noise management should be a priority program in all communities and cities. I hope that our barangay capitana would be able to read this and truly do something more permanent this time to make our neighborhood a quiet one.

Now I am able to finish this article because it is 22:17 and the streets are quite quiet. Strange, I wonder where the tricycles are.