THERE is a less told banality about the jeepney other than it being a homage to Filipino ingenuity. Left to his own devices, the Filipino makes do. Unrepentant government neglect has allowed the jeepney to survive to this day in pretty much the same shape and form as the original.

Pre-war Manila had an electric streetcar. The company that introduced it, the Manila Electric Rail Company, or Meralco, is still around, having moved on into the business of power distribution. But the 'tranvia,' as it was called, was never rebuilt from the ruins of war. Hence, the jeepney!