Gov’t vehicles parked illegally on our roads

One of the things that President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte mentioned in his State of the Nation Address was a message to officials belonging to government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs). He vehemently announced that he was not going to allow any new increases in salaries, bonuses or allowances. Apparently, the Office of the President has been getting a deluge of requests for financial increases. But then President Duterte pointed out that as president. he was only getting his salary, which he joked had to be split between two families.

In short, the message the president is sending to government officials is for them to live within their means. President Duterte also ordered government officials, especially those holding directorial positions, to stay and eat their lunch inside their offices so they can resume work at once. If you ask me, this order is a little tough to follow, but hey, we have a workaholic president who doesn’t go to the office on an 8-to-5 schedule only.

This is the first time ever that I have heard such an order from the president of the Philippines. As President Duterte said many times in his speech, they are all public servants and must serve the public at all times. Under Section 8 of the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007, “heads of offices and agencies which render frontline services shall adopt appropriate working schedules to ensure that all clients who are within their premises prior to the end of official working hours are attended to and served even during lunch break and after regular working hours.” So if this is the reality under a Duterte presidency, then so be it.

One of the last issues the president made in his SONA was about the problems of traffic not just in Metro Manila but in our major cities as well. At this point, allow me to point to you two areas in Cebu City that are what we call “chokepoints,” where illegally parked vehicles are the principal reason behind traffic snarls or cloggings. I’m referring to the barangay hall of Lahug on Gorordo Avenue and the barangay hall of Camputhaw on Escario Street. What pains me in this problem is that, the majority of the illegally parked vehicles carry red plates. Yes, they are government vehicles!

President Duterte was right in asking government officials not to use red plates, as they would only get the ire of the public, especially when they violate traffic rules. It’s high time for barangay officials and the police to refrain from parking illegally, especially when they have official business with the barangay hall. This reminds me of the days when Mayor Tomas Osmeña issued a traffic ticket to his own driver for parking illegally. But then, those were the days when the mayor showed all of us that no one was exempted from the law, especially traffic laws. Alas those days are gone!

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For those of you who entertained the idea that President Duterte would finally put the war on drugs to an end, I’m sure the president must have disappointed you folks. I know that the Yellowtards have chastised President Duterte for not fulfilling his promise to put an end to illegal drugs in his six months in office. But then, those Yellowtards cannot seem to put blame on their sacred cow, former president Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III, for his great act of omission for keeping his eyes closed while three million Filipinos got hooked on illegal drugs. Clearly, what President Duterte is undoing cannot be finished in just six months, or even six years!

While the human rights organizations have chastised President Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, an Indonesian newspaper came up with this headline last week: “Global Drug Rings Target Indonesia after Shifting from Philippines.” Here’s an excerpt from that news report: “‘The firm actions in the Philippines have caused drug dealers to look for a new market and Indonesia is that new market,’ BNN drug control head Insp. Gen. Arman Depari said in a press conference at the headquarters of the Jakarta police on Thursday.”

This means that President Widodo is now following in the footsteps of President Duterte. Let the Human Rights Watch in the UN cringe on this report as this is the only way to stop the scourge of this cancer called illegal drugs.

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