Apparently, so many Filipinos lack discipline that a simple video of people following escalator etiquette at an MRT station has gone viral.
Twitter user Gabriella Mara (@_gabriellamara) shared a now-viral video on Tuesday showing how people were well-behaved and following the proper escalator etiquette at the Ayala MRT Station in Makati City.
The 10-second video shows commuters walking on the left side of the escalator as people on the right remain standing.
“CAN I JUST SHARE?? THIS IS IN THE MRT AYALA STATION AND EVERYONE FOLLOWED THE ‘WALK ON THE LEFT STAND ON THE RIGHT’ RULE?? PROGRESS FOR THE PHILIPPINES WOW I AM HAPPY,” she wrote in her Twitter post.
CAN I JUST SHARE?? THIS IS IN THE MRT AYALA STATION AND EVERYONE FOLLOWED THE ‘WALK ON THE LEFT STAND ON THE RIGHT’ RULE?? PROGRESS FOR THE PHILIPPINES WOW I AM HAPPY pic.twitter.com/Ep5JQhy0A1
— gabbi (@_gabriellamara) January 15, 2019
Mara told Coconuts Manila it was captured on Tuesday at around 3pm as she was on the way to Glorietta mall in Makati City.
She shared that this isn’t her first time to see people follow basic rules at a train station. “Every time I go down [the MRT] at Ayala [station] it’s been like this, but I’ve also seen people follow the same rule in the Katipunan LRT station.”
But the 19-year-old shared that it doesn’t happen all the time. In fact, most of the time when she commutes to other places or even when she’s at the mall, she doesn’t see a lot of people following this rule at all.
“Sometimes when I’m in a rush but there are people blocking the left side of the escalator, some people [even] have the audacity to get mad at me and tell me off.”
Ugh. The nerve of some people.
Mara added that it made her happy when her post went viral “because it made me realize how much people actually really care about this rule. It made me realize that there is still hope.”
She said it emphasized the importance of escalator etiquette and how relevant following this rule can be to people’s daily lives.
“It was amazing to see the replies of some of these people saying how 10-15 minutes of their day is saved just from this simple rule… [This] means that slowly there is still a chance for change,” she said.
But it seems that change might move at a snail’s pace as she shared in a follow-up tweet yesterday that she had to go through the “zigzag” escalator line at the Market! Market! mall in Taguig City.
Her video post had over 254,000 views, 33,000 likes, and 8,300 retweets as of this article’s posting. Netizens chimed in with their own experiences.
@ritzcrckrs wrote in Filipino: “My dad fought with me because I’m so into this rule. They don’t follow it and I kept shouting on the escalator itself, ‘IF YOU CAN’T FOLLOW THE SIMPLE WALK ON THE LEFT RULE, WHAT MORE THE LAWS OF THE PHILIPPINES?!!?”
inaway ako ng tatay ko bc im so into this rule. di nila sinusunod and i kept saying, sumisigaw sa mismong escalator “KUNG ANG SIMPLENG WALK ON THE LEFT RULE HINDI MASUNDAN, PAANO PA ANG BATAS NG PINAS?!!?”
— 丽池 (@ritzcrckrs) January 16, 2019
“[I]t has always been like this in Ayala station. To be fair, almost all MRT stations follow this rule. It’s just at the mall that [people] don’t follow this rule,” said @aguayow.
it has always been like this in Ayala station. To be fair, almost all MRT stations follow this rule. Sa mall lang naman talaga kadalasan hindi to sumusunod.
— Arvin (@aguayow) January 16, 2019
“Wow [this is] a big improvement, especially when you’re running late for something,” added @saijo3.
Wow a big improvement lalo na pag may hinahabol kang oras ! sana wala ng pasaway at pabibo!
— 👑KAORI PBB8 BATCH WINNER 🙏🌸🚢🌬️⛈️🌀☄ (@saijo3) January 17, 2019
@JorrylLacdao said that he used to be one of the people who didn’t follow the rule, but now he calls out even strangers on the escalator to follow the rule.
dati isa ako sa mga hnd sumusunod dito ehh, ngayun khit di ko kilala sinasaway ko ehh hahaha, cause ng laging may kaaway sa escalator
— King Jorrilicious (@JorrylLacdao) January 16, 2019
Where else have you seen this rule followed? Leave a comment below or tweet us @CoconutsManila.
Doggone says
The really amazing thing about this video is that the escalator is actually working. Now that is progress.