Much like the fabled Cargo Cults in anthropolgy, when we did battle in the Philippines the thing that made a lasting impression on the Philippinos was Capitalism and the Jeep.
Lee Iacocca must absolutely wince when he sees these snapshots. Without a care of licensing, it seems that about every mile down the road, there is someone cobbling out jeepish frames to go underneath the jeep-like bodies. They're elongated, limo models (who needs doors?) that have all the trademarked jeep gee-gaws that are inviolate elsewhere lest a plague of lawyers descend upon you.
These are also probably made a little better.
They can be packed with stalks of produce and cubed bundles, with nary a gap for a sugar cube. Don't forget the roof!
Or, people climb in these open ended Jeepneys and get carted around the insane streets of Manilla and beyond.
In the 4 hrs total that we spent going from Manilla airport South to board the boats for Mindoro, I was agog at the near-miss carnage possibilities that we avoided.
The most telling instant was on the Tollway where signs marked our way in a Burma-shave style. My favorite was: "When not using cell phone, please use hands to drive"
Other than that, driving was a breeze.
