Metro Manila’s trains are notoriously inefficient and cramp so it’s hard to be in a good mood when riding one. But a passenger featured in a now-viral Facebook post was more than just pissed when children did not give up a seat for him even though, he said, he’s a senior citizen.
Videos posted by Facebook user Ian Jordan last week show an angry man sitting inside a train, screaming at a fellow passenger across from him.
According to Jordan, the incident happened inside an LRT1 train car coming from UN Ave.
“An elderly man started shouting ‘Stand up from there. Get out, I’m going to sit’ at two kids [around] the ages of 3 to 5 right when he entered the train car,” Jordan’s caption reads. “The children were shocked and were visibly scared and surprised.”
“The disrespectful jerk even bragged about being a lawyer and CPA and that the people riding the train did not know anything about the law,” Jordan wrote.
Apparently, the man was angry because the children did not make way for him to sit even though he is considered a senior citizen.
“When a child can stand, make him stand,” he said in Filipino to a woman, presumed to be the children’s guardian.
“You can stand, you’re an adult,” the woman replied.
But the man did not let up.
“I’m a senior [citizen], excuse me, senior citizen,” he said while holding up an ID hanging around his neck. “If you do not know the law, this is the senior citizen [ID], sorry.”
“You don’t look like it yet,” the woman said.
To which the man replied: “That’s because the [supplments] I take are expensive.”
Yes, seriously, that’s what he said.
In the Philippines, those 60 years old and above can get a senior citizen card that will entitle them to benefits like a discount on food and, in some cities, free movie tickets.
While giving a train seat to senior citizens is encouraged, it’s not actually part of their benefits mandated by the government.
At one point in his rant, the man even went as far as insulting the train passengers. It can be seen at the beginning of the first video. Here’s part of the exchange translated to English:
Man: “Why do you care if I want to ride the LRT, huh? Pedestrians! Hoi polloi!”
Woman: “Riding the LRT doesn’t suit you.”
Man: “[I’m] sorry my complexion is really beautiful”
Woman: “If your complexion is beautiful, you shouldn’t be riding the LRT.”
Man: “That’s right, I went down to your level.”
In the second video, the man points out a female senior citizen who happened to be standing.
“See, you’re seated, but here’s a senior [citizen] you should allow to sit,” he tells the woman he’s been arguing with.
The woman tells one of the children — who has been sitting beside the angry passenger — to get up, and the man then tells his fellow senior citizen to sit beside him.
The elderly woman follows him but immediately makes the sign of the cross upon sitting down (We feel you).
As of this article’s posting, the videos have reached more than 2 million views on Facebook.
