IT is just three days away from today when we elect the new president of the republic. Roads, bridges and railways (RBR) should come into play when we vote, as one crucial question must be considered on May 9: Who among the five hopefuls, now being led commandingly by Rodrigo R. Duterte, can best tackle the problem of RBR?
We need more roads and bridges—OK, include skyways and overpasses—not just in the city but in the rural areas, as well as the country’s motorization has been inexorably growing by leaps and bounds.
The volume of vehicles will continue to grow, as population swells and if infrastructure—OK, include airports and seaports, as well—is not given top priority, the government will yet become, crazily, the government’s own No. 1 stumbling block of growth. What a sad, if not a bizarre, specter it would be.
In their April 24 debate, all of the five presidentiables have expressed willingness to address the traffic problem in the metropolis, with everybody almost convinced that improving the city’s railway system and road map, and the unclogging in urban centers of monstrous road jams are priority projects.
In that third and final debate, each one had a formula for all that. The question is, will the winner on May 9 be really profoundly sincere to pursue the traffic torque?
As in all elections, a promise is one thing, and fulfilling it is another. As the saying goes, a promise is meant to be broken.
Otto Von Bismarck’s classic comes readily to mind: “Never believe in anything, until it has been officially denied.”
The government has also busied itself about that CARS Program giving incentives to car companies wanting to build a model that is truly competitive globally. After many years, it has been finally unveiled.
But wonder of wonders: How come the CARS Program dangling P9 billion in subsidies to automakers only attracted Toyota and Mitsubishi?
Can the next president come up with an answer credible enough for us to believe in?
On Monday we can only vote with hope in our hearts.
Toyota Road Trek 12
GOD willing, I’d be in faraway Palawan by the time you are reading this, read this. For, it’s Toyota Road Trek once again, set from May 4 to 7—in keeping with tradition—an unnamed place. For us invited again to the Road Trek, we will only know of our final destination when we are already there. Not even our loved ones know the place (or it won’t be a secret, anymore); they are kept in the dark, too. Up to this day, in my umpteenth time with the Road Trek, I do not know the reason behind that.
Ah, who cares? The thing is, it’s been always fun being in the Road Trek. And that’s what matters in the end. Why, it is only at the Road Trek’s evening bash that I can sing onstage erected on the beach—competing courageously usually against the roar of the waves nearby. As in past Road Treks, too—why, this is the 12th straight already after its baptism of fire in 2005 from Manila to Boracay via Iloilo and Roxas—Toyota always made it a point to have its guests drive the company’s latest fleet of new models in alternating fashion.
It is usually a drive that does not actually push you, force you and punish the vehicle if only to test its roadworthiness to the hilt. If it’s because Toyota vehicles are built to last, endure nasty drivers and make driving easy and comfortable from start to finish, no need to wonder why. If you’ve got on your fingertips the world’s No. 1 automaker—literally, that is—aren’t you, as Metrobank says, in safe hands?
Last year Road Trek 11 was in Cebu. From the Mactan Airport, we took the wheels of Innova, Fortuner, FJ and Super Grandia alternately, until we have reached a paradise of a resort called Kandaya in the northernmost tip of Cebu. That’s one of the come-ons of the Toyota Road Trek: It affords you the luxury of discovering unexplored places that turn out to be so really profoundly beautiful, you usually end up telling yourself: “Why do I still have to leave for vacation spots abroad, when we have lots of beautiful places to go to in our own country?”
Unknown to Toyota, that’s what it’s been imparting to us the last 12 years of the Road Trek. Prost say the Germans; and nostravi the Czechs, when they raise their glass in salutation to anything beautiful and great. I say, mabuhay!
PEE STOP. Deepest condolences to the loved ones of Emy Arcilla, the jolliest fella I’ve ever known in recent memory. Emy, a Mercedes-Benz bigwig, was always fun to be with, what with his endless jokes lighting up every gathering. The last time I was with Emy was when he was partner to Greg Yu in the STV Golf Tournament of Ray Butch “Elvis” Gamboa at Riviera (Danny “Sir John” Isla was my partner). That was a flight to remember, especially because Danny and I won a little bet after Greg had missed a short putt on the last hole. I’ve known Emy since his colorful sportscasting chores in the Philippine Basketball Association. In 1990 Emy and I flew to Hua Hin, Thailand, to act as officials of the Philippine Team to the Asian Golf Championship. We’ve also worked together in the Organizing Committee of the World Team Golf Championship that the country had hosted in 1996. Emy will be missed. Good-bye, my friend. Enjoy your vacation.