There’s a saying that goes: “You get what you give.”
I’ve always been a believer of this, especially in the way I treat people. I’ve always done my best to treat everyone with respect and to just be nice to people. I think sometimes even when I’m being mistreated, I even tend to naively ignore it and still act my best.
But this totally takes the cake and it really bothers me just thinking about this.
I work as a radio DJ in a building called Paragon Plaza, off EDSA. I park there in the basement every morning as I board the airwaves.
One day, last April, I noticed that my car had some pretty bad scratches on the front, left hand side of the car. Since I parked on a turning corner spot, I had assumed that I was sideswiped. I looked around for some notes or anything, then asked the guards, but nothing was left or seen.
I was a bit annoyed then but didn’t let it get to me, but I did notice that it looked like some white paint was engraved onto the scratches, so I assumed that it was a white car that hit me.
A few days later, I notice a white car parked not too far from me, in the darkest corner of the basement. Furthermore, it had parked in a way where it’s right hand back side was hidden and backed in all the way to the wall, seemingly to hide it. So I then checked out this white car, and BOOM! It had grey scratches on it’s rear right hand side, which would make sense if it had sideswiped me and hit my front left hand side.
I then called the guards of the building to figure this out. Not long after, they came to our office with the driver who admitted to hitting my car. He apologized and gave a bunch of excuses on why he didn’t tell anyone. Anyway, bottom line, we found him.
Sad part is, the driver has no money to pay for damages. I really didn’t mind nor did I freak out about it, but since it was a company car (or so I assume) for Cenyth Information Tech (Cenyth Geomatics & Information Technology Services), I figured that it would be insured and they would have some sort of liability insurance to cover it.
Thus began a nearly 4 month process of getting to the owner of this Cenyth Information Tech.
I took my car in to a Nissan Dealer just to get an estimate of damages and they had estimated it to be around P19,140 for the paint, cracked headlight and labor. (I know it’s more pricey at dealerships but I just wanted to take it there to get an official quote)
It took months as supposedly, Cenyth Information Tech did not want to take ownership of this and said that it was the driver’s fault. The driver, willingly admitting to this, says that he would pay. They pleaded for me to allow the driver to take my car to his friend’s shop to get it repaired so that it would not cost as much. I assumed that this might be some hole in the wall junk shop but agreed just to give them a break and to get things moving.
Then after weeks of trying to settle this, when we were already about to take my car in to get fixed, first was the request for some extra time to save money. I again hesitantly agreed as to just not have to bother with any drama. Finally, the day came when we were to take my car in to get fixed a month later, and then…. the driver asks for an extension. Finally, another week or so, and the driver says he’s sick, then finally our other schedule comes a week later and the Cenyth driver says he was back in the province.
I try to contact the secretary whom I spoke with at Cenyth Info Tech and all he did was seemingly forward my messages to the driver, to which the driver would just text me back pleading and begging for more time.
After countless back and fourth texts and pleads from the secretary of the company and the driver, and even after I had requested multiple times to just have insurance take care of this, finally we were able to meet with the driver to take my car in. BUT when we meet… the driver says he only has enough money for a partial repair.
This was about 3 months after the fact already.
So I head over to their office with the driver and finally ask the secretary (whom I thought was actually the owner before) to put me in touch with the owner. They introduced me to Flaviano Bong Ilagan. We spoke on the phone and we agreed to get back in touch with each other after he spoke with his insurance.
I did not hear from Flaviano Bong Ilagan or anyone from Cenyth Information Tech again.
So I tried texting Flaviano Bong Ilagan and his secretary that week, and the week after. Simple request asking for an update. Nada. I tried texting three or four times throughout the week.
I finally call Flaviano Bong Ilagan the following week and OMG, I was not ready for what came next. He totally started screaming at me and absolutely being rude to me on the phone. I am 100% sure that I called with a respectful tone and did not raise my voice at any point. In fact, right from the start, Flaviano Bong Ilagan was already berating me. I then calmly tell him that I will just have my lawyer call him.
After hanging up, Flaviano Bong Ilagan finally texts me (my first text I’ve ever gotten from him despite HIS Cenyth company car hitting my parked car). In his text he states that his insurance is only responsible for his car. Which I really don’t understand as I thought that liability insurance was necessary to drive. Either way, his rudeness on the phone and me having to chase them down, again despite the fact that I was the one hit, really reached the limit for me. I’ve had enough, so I sent him this:
To which Flaviano Ilagan very eloquently and tastefully responded with this:
Of course, this makes me so proud to be a Filipino, when someone like Flaviano Bong Ilagan loves his language so much that he’s willing to share it and promote it and even use Filipino words to describe you (note: sarcasm).
At this point is did not respond and simply ignored it as I do not stoop to this low level.
I mean REALLY, this is what I get after all that. First it was technically a hit and run as no one admitted to it for a few days and I had to find them. Oh and again, HIS COMPANY Cenyth Geomatics and Information Technology Services was the one who hit my PARKED car. Then after finding out, there was still no apology nor any outreach to me. I had to keep following up week after week.
If I were running a company, I would be sure to personally apologize and ensure that any inconvenience my personnel or equipment may have cause will be taken care of. If anything, I’d at least be nice to the person we inconvenienced and I would be the one following up with them to make sure things are taken care of.
Very poor reflection of the company right there! I wonder if that’s how they conduct their business as well?
And he has the nerve to be mad at me just for following up and speaking in English?
My first language is English. I was born in the US. But I’m still very proud to be Pinoy. So proud that I’ve created a site called WhenInManila.com that does nothing but promote being Pinoy to over 200,000 readers per month. Who cares what language I use. If he was not that fluent in English, he could have simply and respectfully asked to speak in Tagalog, I would have had no problem with that. I’ve never met him, how should I know what language he’s comfortable with?! Furthermore, someone speaking any language of their choice gives you no right to spew hateful words and cuss them out. I really do not see how that justifies anything. That’s sort of racism! Last but not least, what in the world does this have to do with my car being fixed that YOUR COMPANY hit while I was parked?
Anyway, I needed some advice. I’ve never really pursued something negative like this and sort of just want to drop it. But on the other hand it just feels wrong to let people like this just walk (or breed).
Furthermore, I don’t really know the rules here in the Philippines as this is my first time going through a vehicular dispute, but isn’t that the whole point of liability insurance? For when you hit someone? I mean I was PARKED… so I’m sure it wasn’t my fault. And what now with the whole “driver” thing? Does that make the owner not liable?
Or maybe I should just text him back with a really cool and smart comeback like: “I’m not gago you are the gagoest!” … yeah… that’ll teach him….
Hit and Run plus Dealing with a Negligent Company: Need Some Advice
