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WE heard
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s State of the Nation
Address (Sona) on Monday, and it was good to know that
developments in the countryside are now being
fast-tracked.
Take the
case of the various roads and bridges that connect the
various provinces of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. To
us, this is an excellent time to prove to her critics
that she really means business in her last three years
in office.
It is
really amazing how the whole country is being connected
with those roads and Ro-Ro (or roll on, roll-off barges
and ships) not only for commercial purposes but also for
tourism. But the President should create a new office
that will really see to it that all her programs and
developments are met as far as their deadlines for
completion and availability are concerned.
Many are
concerned about whether or not all those developments
will be finished soon or if the people will benefit from
them. We know of millions of Filipinos who would like to
go around the country to see the beautiful places that
abound, but are very much afraid of the high cost of
travel.
This is
the reason why those who can afford to, choose to visit
Hong Kong, Singapore, China or other relatively low-cost
destinations rather than exploring the beauty of our
country first. Aside from the transportation problems,
many are also afraid of the security problems that exist
in far-flung provinces, most especially in Mindanao.
Through
such an office, the people can also be informed of all
the finished projects, as well as their operational
status and, more important, if they are secure for the
people to travel on freely. With such a measure, we
don’t see any reason why local travelers will not visit
the various tourism destinations that are all over the
country. The new roads and bridges, together with the
Ro-Ro, are a big boost for local tourism, indeed.
Only in
January, we traveled more than 1,200 kilometers from Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, to Bicol and we didn’t even
have to take a Ro-Ro. Petron’s promotion of
fuel-conservation (through its Xtra Miles Challenge) not
only showed us the beautiful places along the way but
also how to travel such a long distance on only one full
tank of gasoline! Can you imagine how much you can save
when you bring your own vehicle and go to far-flung
places in the country? With the advent of new and
reliable vehicles, families can squeeze into one and
travel as far as they want.
The
President also mentioned the construction of another
circumferential road in Manila that would connect C-5 to
Bulacan and the creation of the
Manila
to Batangas port road. That’s really doable and would
really help a lot in easing the traffic congestion in
the metropolis. Thousands of new vehicles are being
added to the streets, but the amount of existing road
space is still the same, which results in traffic jams
every day.
The real
solution to this is the addition of roads, the
interconnection of major road arteries, widening of the
existing ones, and the clearing of all choke points
along the way (yes, and this includes those pink fences
of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, which
really aggravate traffic during rush hours).
****
FOR the
first time in the young history of the Car Awards Group
Inc. (Cagi), its new set of officials was sworn into
office by President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo on July 12
at the Rizal Room in Malacañang.
Those
sworn in were BusinessMirror’s Ira Panganiban, the new
president of Cagi, and this writer, who is the vice
president for external affairs; Top Gear Magazine’s
Ferman Lao and Robby Consunji, vice president for
internal affairs and secretary, respectively; Philippine
Star’s Jeff Reyes, treasurer; Manila Standard Today’s
Dino Directo, information officer; and Gadget Magazine’s
Armin Amio, Cagi founding president.
Our
special thanks to the people at the appointments and
photo departments of the Office of the President for
making it all possible and for furnishing us with photos
of the event. Maraming salamat po!
****
THE
snatching of cell phones continues unabated these days.
Two of
my kids lost theirs to a couple of shady characters last
weekend. One had already stepped out of the jeepney he
was riding from the school when he noticed that his cell
phone, which he placed in one of his pockets, was gone.
He said that someone in the crowded jeepney kept inching
closer to him and it was probably the same person who
stole his cell phone.
My
youngest son was inside a computer shop when someone
came to him and tried to point something out on the
screen of the computer he was using. Without his
knowledge, the young man was already stealing the cell
phone that was inside my son’s pocket. When my son
noticed that his cell phone was missing, he immediately
called the attention of the supervisor, but by then the
snatcher had already left. Yes, they all happened in
Mandaluyong where we live.
Thank
God that they only lost their cell phones and not their
very lives, which happened to Roland Anthony Lim, the
son of our friend Roland, who was shot to death early
this year when he tried to run after the snatcher who
took his cell phone while he was playing inside a
computer shop in Parañaque. |
