The Bag Who Cried Bomb

Can you guess the day I had this experience?

Route: Ortigas to Ayala RCBC (LRT Ayala Leveriza bus)

I've been experiencing longer commuting times on the same route lately and this experience is definitely the longest one so far. The first was when I boarded an AC Trans bus and arrived office at 6:40 from the usual quarter to or at 6. That day was a usual work day; no situations whatsoever. It doesn't compare to this, however.

Though the weather is fine and I boarded the bus at the usual time, traffic was heavy to standstill starting from Crossing all the way to Ayala (before turning right) - just because of a bag that had been suspected of having a bomb. Some inconvenience!

I boarded Taguig MetroLink bus 823 in Ortigas just after 5 in the afternoon. I then sat at the left window seat (my preference) and paid the fare. As always, I kept the tickets in my pocket (and again, yet another set of MetroLink tickets; this time, though, Taguig - not the usual Malanday ones). Everything was usual - the stops, the traffic (so far) and so on. My dad then called me on the phone (he usually calls me when I'm at Crossing).

Then I noticed that the traffic was heavier than usual after Crossing. The sky got darker and I'm still somewhere in Boni. My dad called and he was surprised when I said that I'm still there. I just said that the traffic is heavy. My dad called again and sadly, I'm still far from the office (somewhere in Guadalupe/Orense I think). This traffic is really heavy!

At EDSA Orense

The driver then decided to open the TV. Instead of the usual movies-in-USB movies, the TV display was of Inquirer's (a popular periodical) "Catalyst Media" containing fresh news, videos and commercials. It's the first time I encountered such thing in a city bus.Then the ticker mentioned the password to the bus WiFi so I decided to connect my phone and tweet that I'm inside the bus in hell traffic.

The videos featured Mikey Bustos, various music videos and TMZ-like discussions from iCM. In one instance, the TV played a music video of a negatively-known group here in the Philippines. It just reinforced the negative ideas I hear. What group is that? I won't say.

Scrolling through tweets, I saw some tweets saying that there is a bomb threat in EDSA FB Harrison due to a bag thrown in a bus. Then I thought that it could be the one causing traffic. True enough, it was. The threat was so serious such that both sides of EDSA in that area were closed to traffic. The sniffing dogs indicated the possibility of a bomb, so closure had to be done.

At EDSA Estrella

My dad called me at long intervals, only to say that I'm in a place not so far from the previous place I mentioned. At one point, I became bored and went back at looking at the window full of red lights. Heavy to standstill traffic.

EDSA Buendia

At "Ayala Ibabaw"

See how hard it was to commute. I saw masses of people going from "Ayala Ibabaw". As in masses. We were able to escape the traffic after the bus turned right for Ayala. Thank God!

Commuters waiting in Ayala PSE took the toll for the route. There were many of them, but only a few were able to get in.

Ayala PSE

 Then there's another stop where many people are waiting... Again, these people took the toll.

Paseo I think

Then at 7:40, I was able to get off the bus. Finally! After more than 2 hours of travel, I'm out! That experience, then, becomes the longest time I commuted for the route.

Eventually, the bag was discovered to only have contained dirty clothes and other stuff - no bomb. Geez! Whoever that person is, may you realize your foolishness!

I wouldn't say that the actions of the bomb squad were unnecessary, however. I just hope that they'll be able to expedite the process next time.