So I got a call late this evening that my girlfriend's dad's old '96 civic somewhat conked out around 10:45 pm along EDSA. She cited that the AT tranny on drive wouldn't engage.

I got there with a bottle or two of ATF (thinking the problem was hydraulic in nature). But the ATF levels were normal.

Long story short, as its pretty late as of press time (details to follow), the MMDA arrived shortly after I did, and stayed with us until the tardy tow truck from a towing company my cousin recommended arrived. All in all they were with us for about 1.5 hours at least.

And why? Because they wanted to shoo away the private tow trucks that simply clamp and tow people with abject disregard to safety and common decency.

I have to say it was a refreshing experience to receive an extended level of courtesy atop professionalism from these people.