by Maiqui Rome Francis Sta. Ana
“Time, I’ve been passing time watching trains go by…all of my life.”
YOU MAY know this line from a popular wedding song performed by Stephen Bishop during the 1980s, but this song pretty much sums up the daily routine in the life of a security guard in the busy platforms of the Legarda train station in Sampaloc, Manila.
“It’s not easy being a security guard,” says Rodolfo Resurrecion, a 31-year old security guard in the Light Rail Transit’s (LRT) line 2 along the Santolan to Recto route. He spends 8 hours of his daily life watching thousands of people get on with their lives, rushing to the nearest train door without even noticing the man ushering people away from the yellow tiles.
Around 4:30 in the morning, the first shift of security guards start their work in preparation for the opening of the station. Rodolfo’s day starts when all the passengers started to pour inside the station. About 200,000 passengers come inside the station every day, and each and every one of them will eventually pass through the escalator where Rodolfo happily waits for their arrival and greets them with the usual, “Good morning po ma’am, ingat lang po sa paglalakad at ‘wag tumapak sa yellow line.”
Standing in the platform for 8 hours is no simple task. Leg muscles started to get numb while sweat starts to gush out of him because of the heat of the sun, the only way to cope up with fatigue and boredom is to observe the people that enters and exits the train.
“My workplace has a lot of stories to tell. I usually see couples having a love quarrel or a boy begging his mother to buy him his favorite car or even an employee arguing with her boss on the telephone. These are the scenes that keep me awake all the time,” Rodolfo said in Filipino.
It is these small and insignificant scenes in everyday life that keeps a busy and boring day from becoming a total wreck. These people provide the stories and also serve as a reminder to Rodolfo that the beauty of life can still be found amid everyone else’s chaos and clutter.
Accompanying the wave of people entering the premises of the station are the unavoidable complaints and tantrums by some unruly commuters. Protocol prohibits security guards from engaging with the commuter.
“There was this one time when a commuter started swearing in front of me because he does not want to be inspected. He said that he was on a hurry and if I am going to inspect all of his baggage he would sue me. I told him that I was only doing my job and that he can talk to my supervisor for his complaints.”
These instances are pretty much unavoidable because of the tediousness of presenting all of your baggage only to be inspected and to be returned at once.
“A lot of them [commuters] don’t understand that what we are doing is for their own safety. They think that it’s just a simple task of poking sticks inside a stranger’s bag. Our job is to ensure that there will be no trouble whenever or on whatever part of the station it is.”
The risks of being a security guard aside from encountering angry mobs of commuters but also the danger of preventing creeps armed with deadly weapons from entering the station. Once in a while some drunken person with a knife may happen to come across the entrance of the station and demand passage inside.
“My job is to protect the passengers. I must never be afraid whenever some armed miscreant wants to get in,” Rodolfo expressed in Filipino.
Rodolfo’s wife, Jane understands the risks of his job as the protector of the passengers that ride the trains of the LRT. One of the things that keeps him going is the fact that his 4-year old daughter thinks that, “He is my hero because he protects people from bad guys,” Krisha, said in an interview.
These security guards are duty-bound to ensure the safety of the commuters as they enter the station. They are the watchmen of not only the people but also the memories and hopes that accompany them in their daily travels. As the great metal tube came rushing inside the station, that familiar song about passing time while watching the train go by serves as a reminder to the people that these dedicated sentinels should not be taken for granted and that they should be treated with respect, authority and kindness no matter who they are.
Around 4:30 in the morning, the first shift of security guards start their work in preparation for the opening of the station. Rodolfo’s day starts when all the passengers started to pour inside the station. About 200,000 passengers come inside the station every day, and each and every one of them will eventually pass through the escalator where Rodolfo happily waits for their arrival and greets them with the usual, “Good morning po ma’am, ingat lang po sa paglalakad at ‘wag tumapak sa yellow line.”
Standing in the platform for 8 hours is no simple task. Leg muscles started to get numb while sweat starts to gush out of him because of the heat of the sun, the only way to cope up with fatigue and boredom is to observe the people that enters and exits the train.
“My workplace has a lot of stories to tell. I usually see couples having a love quarrel or a boy begging his mother to buy him his favorite car or even an employee arguing with her boss on the telephone. These are the scenes that keep me awake all the time,” Rodolfo said in Filipino.
It is these small and insignificant scenes in everyday life that keeps a busy and boring day from becoming a total wreck. These people provide the stories and also serve as a reminder to Rodolfo that the beauty of life can still be found amid everyone else’s chaos and clutter.
Accompanying the wave of people entering the premises of the station are the unavoidable complaints and tantrums by some unruly commuters. Protocol prohibits security guards from engaging with the commuter.
“There was this one time when a commuter started swearing in front of me because he does not want to be inspected. He said that he was on a hurry and if I am going to inspect all of his baggage he would sue me. I told him that I was only doing my job and that he can talk to my supervisor for his complaints.”
These instances are pretty much unavoidable because of the tediousness of presenting all of your baggage only to be inspected and to be returned at once.
“A lot of them [commuters] don’t understand that what we are doing is for their own safety. They think that it’s just a simple task of poking sticks inside a stranger’s bag. Our job is to ensure that there will be no trouble whenever or on whatever part of the station it is.”
The risks of being a security guard aside from encountering angry mobs of commuters but also the danger of preventing creeps armed with deadly weapons from entering the station. Once in a while some drunken person with a knife may happen to come across the entrance of the station and demand passage inside.
“My job is to protect the passengers. I must never be afraid whenever some armed miscreant wants to get in,” Rodolfo expressed in Filipino.
Rodolfo’s wife, Jane understands the risks of his job as the protector of the passengers that ride the trains of the LRT. One of the things that keeps him going is the fact that his 4-year old daughter thinks that, “He is my hero because he protects people from bad guys,” Krisha, said in an interview.
These security guards are duty-bound to ensure the safety of the commuters as they enter the station. They are the watchmen of not only the people but also the memories and hopes that accompany them in their daily travels. As the great metal tube came rushing inside the station, that familiar song about passing time while watching the train go by serves as a reminder to the people that these dedicated sentinels should not be taken for granted and that they should be treated with respect, authority and kindness no matter who they are.
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