No budget for a parallel road to Escario Street
One would think that when Cebu was dubbed by Waze as the worst city to drive in, our local political leaders would have called for an emergency meeting to find ways to solve our traffic problems. But apparently no such emergency meeting happened and all the local government officials just simply shrugged their shoulders as if these are things beyond their control. So if our political leaders are not finding ways to solve our problem, how much more can we expect from the ordinary man on the street?
Even the business sector has not said anything nor put any pressure on our political leaders to move their butts and solve this traffic problem. As I already wrote several times in the past 16 years that in Cebu City, for instance, the solution to the traffic congestion along Escario Street is to create a parallel road to Ecario St. starting from V. Rama Avenue all the way to Andres Abellana, crossing the Guadalupe River and passing through Gochan Hill then crossing the Lahug Creek then out into the University of the Philippines (UP-Lahug) campus. In fact we can even stretch it further by constructing not just a bridge, but also a flyover over the Lahug Creek and crossing all the way across Gorordo Ave. to Rosales Ave.
While that is the good news that we've been selling in the past 16 years, the bad news that I got is that, for the 2017 National Budget for infrastructure, the Department of Public Works and Highways did not provide any funds for this project. This means, it may or may not be funded for the year 2018. So motorists are doomed to suffer the traffic congestion along Escario St. even under the Duterte administration. I thought we would see the change that we all expect.
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There is no doubt that one of the best ways to solve the problem on the overflowing landfill is the strict implementation of the "No Segregation, No Collection" policy. This was the message of the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. And I totally agree with its observations that the time has come for us to strictly follow the EMB rules or get punished for such violations.
Mind you, my son-in-law Atty. Jennoh Tequillo is currently on study leave at the University of Kyushu in Fukuoka, Japan and the first thing that he wanted me to know is that his room is just too small at 11 square meters that even a waste basket is too large to fit. So as much as possible, he buys things that don't end up in the trash bin. The less trash you produce, the less hassle there is. You can say that the major difference between Japan and the United States is that in the US, tons of trash are produced daily. In Japan, they produce lesser trash which they also segregate.
So I dare say that it is time for a paradigm shift in the way we create our trash. If each family produces less trash per day, there would be less trash thrown into the already overloaded sanitary landfill. Meanwhile, I still would like to see solutions to the sanitary landfill problem and one such solution is the so-called "waste-to-power" option, which we already saw in Taipei, Taiwan where the trash ends up in a factory where it is burned for fuel to power a modest power plant. In short, we don't have to reinvent the wheel only amend our environmental laws to allow the burning of trash to fuel our power plant.
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The Internet was filled with news reports of the passing of Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago who apparently succumbed to cancer. At this point, let me say it here that the Senate lost the right person on the job. Yes, Sen. Santiago would debate with anyone on the Senate floor if she thinks that the other side has half a brain. We all saw this during the impeachment trial of the late Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona, where Santiago battled the yellow minions of then Pres. Benigno "PNoy" Aquino, III but unfortunately lost. For sure, CJ Corona has welcomed her in heaven and thanked her for her valiant defense of his persona.
Just think, a few months ago, Santiago was running for President, but she could hardly do a campaign outside of Metro Manila because her illness kept her within arms reach of the hospital facilities. But for the sake of argument, if Santiago had won her presidential bid together with her vice presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos, the latter would be the new president today.
But then we believe in fate and destiny. Santiago ran twice (she first ran against Pres. Fidel V. Ramos and nearly won) for the presidency, but somehow she wasn't destined to be president. But she did a find a perfect job as a senator. I just hope that towards the end, she reconciled with the Lord who is the final judge when we enter the new realm called eternal life. May God grant her eternal rest.
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