Cementing our roads is a must these days

Despite all the warnings given to the people living in the areas that would be affected by typhoon Urduja, this "not-so-strong" typhoon still caused unexpected damage and ended up killing at least 40 people mostly living in the Island of Biliran, Leyte. Typhoon Urduja brought rains worth two months in one day, causing landslides that killed so many people. In short, we cannot be too complacent when it comes to a weather disturbance.

President Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte the other day flew to Biliran Island to personally survey the damage and he promised relief to the people who also suffered from super typhoon "Yolanda" in 2013. But residents say that typhoon Urduja was more devastating to them than typhoon Yolanda. One of the reasons why typhoon Urduja was so devastating was it was a very slow typhoon, moving at 5 kilometers per hour.

Meanwhile, Pres. Duterte's visit to Biliran gave him the opportunity to hear the side of the Armed Forces of the Philippines soldiers, two of whom were wounded when the New People's Army terrorists attacked them in Catubig, Samar, while they were deployed to support the relief operations in the typhoon-ravaged areas. Pres. Duterte said in Naval, Biliran, "I would say that this is something which I have been telling you all along. It (NPA) does not have the ideology anymore…Wala na itong redeeming factor. The ideology they nurtured for years is already gone."

It's really refreshing for Pres. Duterte who has been so friendly with the CPP-NPA during his years as Davao City Mayor to finally come to realize that their struggle has lost its value and that the communist struggle for their passé ideology has become meaningless. That NPA terrorists would even attack soldiers who are sent by their officers to aid typhoon victims only proves that their struggle is anti-people. I dare say that it is high time to set a timetable to decimate the communist ideology and finally rid the Philippines of this cancer of society.

Meanwhile, we still expect a wet Christmas next week, however, the supposedly new typhoon spotted east of Mindanao has weakened into a Low Pressure Area according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. But we just can't be too overconfident as things can still take a turn for the worse. So it is best to pray for better weather for the coming Christmas Day.

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Still on our issues about the weather, even after decades of living in this tropical country that is ravaged by at least 10 typhoons per year, is that our government officials still do not know how to handle a tropical weather climate. Again, allow me to discuss the bad roads of Cebu City, which until now no one from the Department of Engineering and Public Works is working on. As we already pointed out many times in past columns, our potholes have become so numerous our motorists already memorized their specific locations.

Frankly speaking, I have never seen the roads in Cebu City in a worse state than ever before. The last time Cebu City had good roads was during the 15th ASEAN Summit, which was held in Cebu City, where the DPWH showed their wares and removed all the potholes we could see. But in 10 years we no longer remember the days when Cebu City streets were well-paved and potholes were unheard of.

Call it "kulit" if you wish, but in 2003 when I was still running CITOM, I asked then Cebu City councilor Gabby Leyson to cement the road along Peace Valley from the residence of Engr. Pericles Dakay all the way to Freedom Street as this asphalted road gets destroyed and repaired twice or three times a year as the road doubles for a river. Leyson agreed and had the road cemented rather than asphalted and today 14 years later the road is still there saving Cebu City money to fix other roads. Now if only the City of Cebu started cementing all our city streets, then there will be no more roads to fix during the rainy season. So do we fix our roads or the heads of Cebu City officials?

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