What is new in what I want to do?

Jeepney has been the most well-known public transportation for Filipinos since the end of the WWII. With its advantages; cheap and convenient, a jeepney has been prevalent around the country. The embeddedness of the jeepney on Filipinos significantly affected the way of life and the institutions. Despite the significance of jeepney in the Philippines, only few researches were conducted. Most of them were about the relationship between its design and Filipino culture and the drawbacks of jeepney. Some researches assert that the jeepney drivers expressed their thoughts and feelings through its décor and design. The research conducted by Feliciano(1987) states that the jeepney is a product of Filipino cultural aspect through its appearance. Chua et al.(1992) in their research, Eksena sa Dyipni, also asserted that the jeepneys became an institution and thus became a symbol of Filipino ingenuity. Other research conducted by Mercado and Teo(2000) and Axalan and Landicho(2008), however, indicate that the operation of jeepney caused the air pollution and the traffic jam around the country. As the related literatures introduced, the researches on the cultural aspect of jeepneys and the side effects of operating jeepney have been actively conducted and studied. Our research, on the other hand, has its own uniqueness and reasons to be conducted which is distinguishable from the researches that have been conducted already.

Our research primarily questions the existence of jeepney despite of its well-known drawbacks. The reviewed literatures that we have gathered only and simply state the process on how jeepneys became the symbol of the Filipino and the Philippines and the side effects of jeepney on drivers, commuters, and the society. However, no research was conducted to indicate the cultural aspect of jeepneys that barricades the abolishment of them. Historically, the strikes of jeepney drivers remarkably affected the economy and the society in the Philippines, since most public commute through jeepney. The importance and the gaining power of the jeepney became a significant phenomenon that should be examined. Through the research, we would find out the reasons why the jeepneys have been prevalent and the role of cultural aspect and embeddedness in explaining the existence of the jeepneys until current period of time without the abolishment.

We would also research and analyze Filipino arts that contain the theme about the jeepney to present the evidence of jeepney's cultural embeddedness on Filipino. The song titled 'jeepney love story' best exemplifies the cultural embeddedness of jeepney for most Filipinos.

The conducted researches about the jeepney would guide us to set a standard throughout the research. The research that we will conduct, on the other hand, would address the relationship between the cultural aspect and embeddedness of jeepney in Filipino society and its existence in current time without any abolishment.

References 

Feliciano, Ma. Laurdes.(1987). The cultural symbolism of the jeepney as evident in its decor and design.

Leonardo et al.(1987). A case study of the socio political relationships of Highway 54-Pateros Jeepney Drivers and their Association as an interest group.

Mercado et al.(2000). Aphidicolin sensitivity test in evaluating susceptibility among Filipino jeepney drivers.