the Philippines' JEEPNEY

Few countries in the third world have managed to come anywhere near finding a mass transport system that meets the needs of their millions of commuters. Some possibilities have moved off the drawing board in traffic choked cities despite scarce public funding brought about by regional economic downturns (African Business, 2001).

While commuters wait patiently for a public system that would work and is affordable, they have found many ingenious ways of getting around (African Bussiness, 2001). The Philippines for example, is known for its jeepney, the most popular mean of transportation in the country. They were originally made from the US military jeeps which were left behind from the 2nd World War. The jeep, as it was fondly called by Filipinos, was known for its flamboyant designs and crowded seating. And most of all, it is known as the symbol of Filipino creativity, innovativeness and ingenuity.

When the American troops began to leave the Philippines at the end of the World War II, hundreds of surplus jeeps were sold or given to local Filipinos. Locals then stripped down the jeeps to accommodate several passengers, added metal roofs for shade, and decorated the vehicles with vibrant colours and bright chrome hood ornaments. One of them was a musician, bandleader and composer named Clodualdo “Clod” Delfino, who claimed that he was the first one to transform a war surplus jeep into a passenger vehicle. It was in the circa 1940s- 1950s, and he drove his redesigned vehicle into several routes (Pasay- Vito Cruz, Vito Cruz- Quiapo, Quiapo- Pier, Quiapo- Grace Park, City Hall- Sta. Cruz), charging 1peso fare. He drove for 15 long hours and would earn a hundred pesos, after deducting his lunch and beer expenses. After six months, he called it quits. The entertainment business had started to look up, band musicians were in demand once more, and it was high time to re-organize his band. His jeepney became a travelling signboard for “Clod Delfino and his band” as it towed a covered wagon for their musical instruments except the bass drum. Eventually, he sold his jeepney to a friend for 3500Php. Some years later, he was told that his jeepney was resold and was picking up fares in the neighbourhood he used to live in, so went to see for himself, but it was impossible to tell which one was his because of the changes the designs had undergone. Although he has no pictures as proof, he named some of his friends to testify that he did built them on the time that he said he did.

By the time he sold his jeepney in 1946, the concept has been replicated in welding and auto-repair shops, and was later developed with many striking innovations in the structure and style by a growing industry in the 50s and 60s, and further on in the 70s to be mass-produced. Surely, it has come a long way from being the World War II Willys jeep surplus that provided an early post-war topless form of transportation, soon enough acquiring a roof, stretching the back to accommodate more passengers, taking on colours and accessories. Even as the supply of surplus jeeps and alternative mother-vehicles decreased, it continued to spawn an industry and commerce of build-from-scratch jeepney production, providing the needs of the populace for an affordable means of transportation and all imaginable hauling needs.

And who are the pioneers who made jeepney a household word? Certainly, not those people with college degrees, not those professionals, or even holders of high school diploma. They are mainly men of low-middle-class backgrounds; they have little formal education, and can barely speak English. Pioneers like Magsikap Legaspi, Leonardo Sarao and Anastacio Francisco are good examples of those people who succeeded because of “sipag at tiyaga”. They started their small businesses in the early 50s, and later on prospered into a big venture as jeepney manufacturers. They were soon known to the public, by those metal cut-outs of their names in bold letters that were put in the flanks of their products, and beneath their names, the word “custom-built” would usually appear to indicate that each was made to conform to the costumer’s designs.

Years later, Francisco Motors Corporation introduced streamlining and mechanized finishing in jeepney body building, and other manufacturers joined in the trend, trying to put some “Western” touch to be accepted by the Western people. But Sarao Motors remained to be humbly Filipino, with colours and touch of the Baroque art. Certainly, the jeepney is “Pinoy” all over, from its designs to its structure to its “burloloy” and “abubot” hanged inside the jeepneys.

A work of art on wheels? Certainly yes! Jeepney art is a combination of the "art of the accessory" and the "art of the colour" applied on a basic canvas shell of galvanized metal or buffed and glimmering stainless steel. The jeepney has undergone an evolution of the artistic side of the Filipinos, from the early 1950s wherein there was a chromatic effusion and ornamental variety, up to the present times with painted designs of almost anything and everything under the sun, depending on the likes of the driver or the painter. No two jeepneys are even alike. The body structure show distinct differences, customization starts with the body, a detail here and there. Then the differences of personal touches - a choice of accessory, horses and horns, lights and mirrors, names and dedications, a colour preference, an art theme, a religious icon or invocation - details that proudly blazons a signature, a personal statement and ownership.

The art of the borloloys also tell something. Accessories are often more defining to jeepney design than colour. Usually symmetric and for the most part concentrated and insanely crammed on the front-hood area, they number from a few to many to excessive to pathologic-excessive. There were ones with horns, horses, flags and even automotive emblems, all depending on how the driver wants his own jeepney to look like.

In jeepney art, anything goes. Some are passive artworks, compositions of jeepney artists commissioned by the manufacturers; some are kinetic, fantasy-type arts, unendingly adding layers and layers of colours and designs. Anything goes, as long as the handy jeepney artists can work on it, the jeepney will surely make your eyes follow with awe and amazement. It is art, Baroque. Pop. Mobile art. Construction art. Collage-on-wheels. Art-on-wheels. Graffiti-on-wheels. Folk art. Pinoy art. People's art. Proletarian Art. Masa Art. Truly and proudly Filipino.

On the other side, the government surely did a lot of programs to promote our jeepney all over the world. During the Marcos regime, the jeepneys became a tourist spot because of several promotions by the government. It was in the year 1968 where the jeepneys had its biggest media build-up because even beauty queens endorsed and posed with our jeepney. In 1971, the Philippine Travel and Tourism Association featured the jeepney in the Philippine Jeepney Roadshow, wherein they toured the jeepneys worldwide. Two jeepneys with a crew of drivers and a handful of Philippine handicrafts and souvenirs were set on to a marathon from Manila to London, via Europe, Middle East and Southeast Asia. And as expected, the jeepney amazed the foreigners who had the chance to see the colourful vehicle right in front of their eyes. Our jeepney even appeared in the New Yorker, courtesy of the Philippine Airlines.

There were even a number of painters who did their portraits about the jeepney, and some of them were Vicente Manansala, whose painting is in the Ateneo Art Museum, Mauro Malang-Santos and Antonio Austria who focused on its folk-art naivete and humor, and Leo Aguinaldo who paid an abstract expressionist tribute to its coloristic extravagance. And who’d forget “Gorio and his Jeepney?” A comic strip made by Ben Alcantara.

It may have undergone a lot of improvements and changes, but in the end, truly, the jeepney is still a symbol of Filipino Ingenuity, Creativity and Innovativeness, may it be supported by the government or not.