Last Christmas, while we were in Mandaluyong visiting my in-laws, we had to make a phone call to their barangay hall at 2AM to file a noise complaint, because one of their neighbors had apparently gifted themselves a karaoke machine and they were still going at it at full blast, disturbing our part of the neighborhood with their awful song renditions.
After that 2AM call to the barangay, which was surprisingly answered, the karaoke session that had been going on since early afternoon mercifully stopped and we were able to get some sleep. However, it became clear that it must’ve been fatigue, instead of the barangay people, that they finally stopped. Because by lunch time the next day, they were at it again.
Not as tolerant as her parents who were hesitant to call the barangay again so soon, my wife was on the telephone by their second song, and this time didn’t stop following up until they sent someone to check on the complaint. To be fair this time, because it was already daytime and during office hours, they were quite quick to act and within more or less an hour, an official from the barangay had knocked on the gate of the offending apartment building to ask the karaoke monsters to tone down their volume.
By the time we left for Bacolod on the evening of January 1, the offending noise pollutants had ceased their operations, or at least lowered the volume of their Christmas present to a more acceptable level.
The quick response of the barangay to this noise complaint was encouraging to see (and no longer hear), especially for someone who thought that there isn’t much we can do about noisy singing neighbors in this karaoke-loving country. There are so many times that I have tolerated noisy neighbors and karaoke joints, closing the windows of our homes instead of complaining, assuming that the barangay wouldn’t do anything about noise complaints.
This experience with a particularly obnoxious neighbor demonstrated to me that a responsive barangay hall is fully capable of shutting down such activities, making me excited to try to see if I can also get the same results from my barangay officials back home in Silay, whenever the open-air, full blast karaoke sessions from nearby neighbors or commercial establishments go on far too late into the night and disturb my peace.
It is quite possible that our recent experience with reporting a noise complaint to the barangay was the exception to the rule, because if you come to think of it, our local governments are usually the biggest noisemakers, especially during town fiestas when they bring in the big-ass speakers for the street dancing parades and the open-air community dance offs that are very loud and usually go very late into the night.
However, those exemptions excluded, local ordinances on noise should exist and be easily enforceable. After all, there is probably no need for a decibel meter to determine if someone is making too much noise after 9PM, right? Commercial establishments with videoke/karaoke equipment that are not in closed/aircon rooms should be given notices of violation when they disturb the neighborhood, and neighbors that make too much noise should neither be surprised nor offended to get a visit from the barangay.
The problem with Filipinos as far as noise pollution is concerned is that some of us are just obnoxious while the rest of us are too tolerant or too shy to assert our rights that are being drowned out with noise. While the Philippines is among the noisiest places in the world, where silence seems to make our countrymen uncomfortable, there should still be a limit to all that ambient noise we generate, tolerate, and essentially normalize. Being a noisy people in a noisy land is a distinction we shouldn’t be proud of and the great thing is that we can still do something about it.
Those of us who know they are noisy and are already borderline obnoxious can choose to tone it down a bit, or move to better-soundproofed rooms if they really insist on doing noisy things. Those of us who enjoy the peace and quiet will have to choose to be a bit louder when it comes to dealing with the noisy neighbors, because if nobody speaks up, they will just keep on being loud and annoying. The barangay officials may not like having to do their jobs when it becomes uncomfortable and confrontational, but that’s what they are there for. And if they don’t do their jobs now, someone else will have to do it in the future, so we might as well start as early as possible.*
