More Kwentong Commute By Sexual Harassment Victims
Second ride of story submissions 🚕
On account of the first set of stories (Read: Part 1) submitted through #MayKwentoAko, more readers came forward with their experiences during their commute, pre-Covid. The stories below hope to bring light to the fact that sexual harassment on public transportation happens and is sadly more common than we could imagine.
Madz: I don’t know why pero madalas akong mabiktima ng mga manyak. When I was 13 years old and on my way to school, a man riding a bicycle suddenly showed up and passed by me. I had no idea that he could grope my front coz he was riding his bike! My mind went blank and the next thing I knew, I was in our school’s gate getting interviewed by our school’s staff about what happened. Mind you, our uniform had 3/4 sleeves and a jumper skirt that needs to be 2 inches below the knee.
Same thing happened when I was on my first year in college. We’re on our way to Isetann when my friend suddenly ran to me and was cut midway when I felt someone grope my butt. Call it adrenaline or what, I slapped that person and he pretended to be mentally disabled just so he could ran away from it. We tried to ask for help but the vendors told us to just go to where we were headed coz the guy might be a part of a syndicate. Just so you know, I was wearing a typical blouse for uniform and 3 inches below the knee straight cut skirt with a jacket tied on my waist.
That same year, we transferred to Carmona, Cavite. So technically, I needed to ride a bus to get home. My last class was at 7pm and my trip on the bus usually takes 2 hours or more depending on the traffic. I was basically forced to sit in a three seater since there were no other options and I really wanted to get home. I didn’t care that I was in the middle and two men were beside me. They both looked decent like usual office guys you’ll see in Buendia area. So the bus operators usually close the lights once we passed Resorts World Manila. Being tired and all, I fell asleep in the middle of the trip.
I felt that someone was caressing my legs so I woke up and looked at the man on my right. He pretended to be sleeping but I knew it was him. I shrugged it off thinking it might be my imagination or whatever and tried to sleep again. On my way to dreamland, I felt his hands again. This time, I pretended to be asleep and waited for the perfect timing to grab his hand. I immediately called the operator’s attention while I was holding his hand and showing it to everyone. He insisted that I was his girlfriend and it was just a lover’s quarrel. Thankfully the driver kinda remembered me being one of their regular passengers and knew that I don’t have a boyfriend because he interviewed me once. They immediately stopped at a police station and filed against the guy since I was still a minor that time. I still couldn’t figure out what’s with him because I was wearing an oversized shirt and a loose jogging pants that day.
Larem: When I was young, I loved to wear jeans and a shirt. Yun kasi uso dati, pahabaan/palakihan ng damit. Then one day, we were off to Marikina, kasama ko mama ko, kuya ko (na bata lang din noon), at bunsong kapatid ko. Nakasakay kami sa jeep noon at nag-aasaran kami ng kuya ko nang biglang may lalaking sumakay at grabe titig niya sakin.
Nag-focus ako nun kay kuya makipaglaro kaso bigla siyang tumabi sakin. That time, sobrang takot na ako. Later on, naramdaman ko na hinihimas nya likod ko, I don’t know paano ko sasabihin sa mama ko yun. Nagmakaawa nalang ako sa mama ko na tumabi sa kanya then parang nakaramdam mama ko. Tinignan nya yung lalaki tapos nakipag-usap sya sa mama ko na parang wala syang ginawa sakin. Pinalipat na ko ng mama ko nun sa tabi niya, then binigyan ng lalaki ng apple yung mga kapatid ko bago siya bumaba.
That’s the reason why sometimes I’m scared na bumyahe mag-isa or mag-take ng taxi or Grab na ako lang pasahero.
Jashi: It was late afternoon, pauwi kami ng guy friend ko from school sa Manila. Madalas ko siyang kasabay umuwi dahil same route lang kami and he was also my classmate. Nasa LRT 2 na kami at that time, kwentuhan ng mga kalokohan, since it’s not yet rush hour at nakaupo pa kami ng friend ko.
He was on my left side and a stranger to my right. We were talking about something funny when I felt the stranger’s hand to my right side slowly touching my side boob. Nilingon ko siya, patay malisya at nagtutulog-tulugan, naka-cross arms din siya at may bag kaya mahirap makita kaagad. While my friend continuously talks about something, ako hindi na makagalaw. And then the stranger continued his evilness. Hindi na ako nagsasalita, that’s when my friend asked me what’s wrong. I couldn’t manage to talk so I typed everything to my phone and pinabasa ko sa kanya and then he insisted na magpalit kami ng pwesto. Tahimik na lang kami hanggang sa makarating sa next station, we got off the train kahit na hindi pa talaga kami doon bababa and waited for the next train.
Naninigas ‘yung tuhod ko at paiyak na ako but I tried so hard not to dahil ayoko makita ng mga tao. It was my friend’s first time to experience such event kaya hindi niya rin alam ang gagawin. I’m thankful to have someone with me at that moment, but most of the time, I’m alone, just like the others.
What am I wearing? My all-white school uniform.
Monique: I was 20 yo, wearing a knee length skirt and a shirt, when a guy who was sitting across me in a jeepney kept glancing at me. I dismissed it by thinking that he was just looking outside of my direction to see where we are already. I was with my bf that time, and when we arrived at our destination, my bf went down first. When I crouched & walked towards the jeep’s opening (we were seated at the middle part), I felt a hand quickly touching my thigh up until my crotch area. It was from the left side where the man was seated.
It happened too fast, I lagged. That was really traumatic because I had no sexual experience yet and that was the 1st time I was touched in those places!
If you’ve experienced something similar, you may feel free to share your stories with us below. Our ongoing campaign, #MayKwentoAko, features stories shared with us to encourage positive conversations.
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