On a searing-hot afternoon last week, I was driving in the middle of heavy traffic along EDSA Santolan, when I felt the need to piss. There was an empty mineral water bottle on the back seat and my car windows were tinted. But I was reluctant to use the bottle, not sure that the other motorists alongside me—or the street vendors—couldn’t peer at my window and make out what I wanted to do. Besides, I might have trouble peeing in a sitting position, with my hands on the wheels, lest the traffic suddenly move on.Imagine my relief when I spotted one of those infamous public urinals installed along the highway. Putting on my hazard lights and hand break, I quickly alit from my car and almost just as quickly relieved myself, momentarily holding my breath to avoid inhaling the cursed urine vapor from the stinking urinal.
That wasn’t the only time I chose quick relief over more rational, more sanitary options. I have used public urinals in Cubao as well quite a few times.
The installation of these urinals in virtually every street of the metro is a pet project of former MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando under his “Metro Guwapo” campaign, a program which built as well footbridges and waiting sheds -- all painted in his favorite pink color.
In spite of the good intentions with which they were put up, the urinals have become a favorite topic of heated debates, propaganda, insults, and obscene humor. People are quite divided about it: many loved it (especially the men) and about as many hated it (especially the women).
Before the installation of these public urinals, many Filipino males out in the streets had to endure a full bladder until they could find a grassy area, a convenient wall, a dark street corner, or, in the case of some motorists—until they could park their car in a secluded street corner and pee on the wheels of their vehicles. Otherwise they’d have to speed their way to malls or fast food outlets.
The MMDA public urinals have been funded by millions of taxpayers’ money – the taxpayers being men and women -- which led some pro-women’s groups to question why only male urinals were installed. "What about a facility for women?" the ladies demanded.
Some people also bash the MMDA for not maintaining the urinals properly. Indeed, with no faucet installed, there is no way to wash away waste matter that have accumulated – so much so that the whole street where a urinal is located stinks with the most putrid stench. This issue has raised the concern that these public urinals have not only become eyesores and olfactory nuisances but pose a grave public health hazard as well.
An MMDA urinal is, in fact, a simple, small, roundish cubbyhole with neither door nor roof, inside which is a small plastic funnel-like structure connected to a pipe that goes all the way down to an opening in the ground. The "funnel" is where men should target their pee so that it goes through the pipe into the opening below. Unfortunately, some users are either too drunk or cross-eyed to sharply and steadily "shoot" into the funnel. Consequently, stray urine would accumulate on the floor that would would raise a stench soon enough.
It must be true that the typical Pinoy couldn’t care less about observing sanitation in the use of public toilets. I have seen this time and again inside comfort rooms around the metro. And one can’t help but notice because, as you may know, male urinals in public restrooms are serially put up without dividing walls between them.
I have been a victim once, for instance, of a fellow Pinoy, who was pissing beside me in a public comfort room. When he was through, he wagged his penis vigorously to shake off the remaining urine inside. The result was that my trouser leg got wet. It is hard to guess why men would choose to do this rather than wipe with toilet paper. Or perhaps be a little careful wagging his penis. I guess this is why most women are loathe to go to a comfort room used by men, leading to the practice of separate male and female comfort rooms in malls and restaurants.
Similar things happen inside the MMDA urinals. The accumulated urine on the floor quickly evaporates because of our hot climate, leaving vapors that smell so vile one doesn’t want to breathe. This is without doubt a direct violation of public city ordinances against sanitation.
Irresponsible people have also vandalized the urinals. You can find lewd graffiti written as well as chewing gum stuck on its walls. Cigarette butts are scattered about. Worse, the urinals have been used for more than just urinating -- sex maniacs reportedly go there to masturbate.
The MMDA has been inundated with complaints over these dirty and unsanitary facilities. Former Chairman Fernando has defended the urinals by saying that these ‘conveniences’ have helped make the metro stink-free by providing men with places other than walls and street corners to relieve themselves. He also promised that the urinals will be given a more regular maintenance service to avoid dirt and stink. For all those promises, I still have to overcome an urge to retch whenever I pass the urinals in Cubao. They still smell horribly! Possibly, there are just too many users and too few maintenance workers.
Recently, probably to appease the women who complained about the absence of female facility, the MMDA installed three female public urinals along EDSA. Hundreds more will reportedly be installed in major streets along the metro in the next months. One was put up underneath the EDSA-Ortigas Flyover while two were installed at the MRT-Quezon Avenue station and Quezon Avenue Provincial Bus terminal.
Unlike its male counterparts, the female urinals are expected to be regularly maintained and sanitized and provided with light and running water. The existing facilities are secure: they can be locked from the inside and are totally enclosed for privacy. These are painted apple green, in line with the MMDA’s “Metro Green” program (the one that replaced the Metro Gwapo of former Chair Fernando). To cater to the ladies sense of style, the female urinals were also adorned with floral drawings. Current MMDA Oscar Inocentes encourages women to use the urinals and then give their opinions and comments so that the MMDA can improve on the future design and structure of these urinals.
But already, some women are preparing to snub the facility. In an interview with GMA 7, GABRIELA Party List representative Luzviminda Ilagan said she would not particularly recommend the use of public urinals for women in view of the threats and risks they pose for them. She explained that women will be exposed to embarrassment and possible scandals if the design of public urinals proves conducive to mugging and harassment. Unless it could been proven that these female urinals can really be safe for use by the ladies, Ilagan says she discourages its use. But the problem lies on how to prove its safety. Maybe an installed 24-hour camera monitor can help to discourage unscrupulous individuals from taking advantage of these ladies' toilets.
Lately, male public urinals are being refurbished and repainted green and emblazoned with flowery designs. When I checked last week, I saw that all four male urinals in the corners of EDSA and Aurora Boulevard have been given a make-over. A neat sign had been printed on the walls saying: “This urinal is clean and stink-free”.
But when I checked again today, I found that they have already been vandalized, dirty, smelly, and with little pools of urine collecting underneath--which got me thinking the urinals shouldn’t probably be blamed at all, but rather those who use them irresponsibly.
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