Life is cheap in the Philippines
In western nations whenever an accident occurs on a freeway or a major thoroughfare, and when safety is an immediate concern, there is never any argument on whose fault it is; the fault lies on the government agency tasked to fix the roads. This brings us to the question of who is responsible for the death of Norman delos Reyes, 29, whose motorcycle fell into a huge hole in the National Highway in Barangay Bulacao, Talisay City.
That excavation was part and parcel of a P47-million drainage project handled by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
According to news reports, the DPWH Second Engineering District said the contractor of that project is A.R. Adlawan Construction, Inc. Clearly that man-hole had no safety signs or markers to warn motorists of the impending danger. As Barangay Bulacao Captain Raul Cabañero pointed out, three days before the accident happened he requested the contractor to provide protecting barriers around the excavation.
So will the family of the Mr. Delos Reyes who worked at the Mactan Export Processing Zone have to sue the DPWH or the Adlawan Construction to indemnify their dead relative? Years ago, our messenger fell into a ditch of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District along D. Jakosalem St. and broke his leg. We had to pay for his hospital bills because MCWD did not have anything for the poor fellow.
So when Pres. Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte comes to Cebu next week, I would like to bring to him this very issue as to the liability of government agencies, especially where safety is seriously lacking. I have always believed that in the Philippines, life is very cheap, especially if you are involved in illegal drugs.
But motorists who go about their daily routine, passing through our national highways or city streets often get into an accident because contractors do not follow certain safety standards. Again we ask; do families have to sue government agencies because of their negligence or incompetence? Let's see what Pres. Duterte has to say about this.
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The first day of the implementation of Executive Order No. 34 or the anti-counterflow scheme by Cebu City began with a bang which netted 61 vehicles, mostly motorcycles, a few cars, and a jeepney. Cebu City Transportation Office chief Isko Ouano revealed that most motorists who were caught and who got their vehicles impounded (for a month!) said they were unaware of the new EO. Isko should tell those folks, "Ignorance of the law excuses no one!" In truth, there are just too many drivers that take advantage (mamintaha) of our lack of traffic enforcers.
I only hope that this program will be conducted year-in and year-out so finally we can instill discipline among our drivers, especially motorcycle riders who ride habal-habal motorcycles for public transportation. But we just can't identify a habal-habal driver from an ordinary motorcycle driver until and unless Cebu City comes up with a scheme to identify who are habal-habal drivers and who aren't.
I have written this suggestion so many times before, but no one seems to listen, that in order to identify habal-habal drivers on a particular route that they ply they should wear certain colors attached to their respective barangays. So far, not a single barangay has implemented this scheme which would have helped their habal-habal drivers police themselves, or maybe they don't want to have an organization where police authorities might easily catch them.
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There is a warning issued by Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) of a possible earthquake that may happen in Negros Oriental anytime now because of a magnitude 3.1 earthquake that struck at 5:46 p.m. last Thursday, 10 kilometers southwest of Valencia, located in Negros Oriental's south-lying third district.
That earthquake was felt at intensity 3 in Bacong and Valencia towns and at intensity 2 in Dumaguete City and Dauin town. Another magnitude 2.3 earthquake occurred later at 8:47 p.m. Thursday, striking 17 km southwest of Valencia. On Friday, February 2, three more magnitude 2.3 earthquakes southwest of Valencia followed at 1:10 a.m., 2:27 a.m., and 4:27 a.m., Phivolcs continued. Another magnitude 1.8 earthquake took place at 2:36 a.m. Friday four km southwest of Zamboanguita town, also in Negros Oriental's third district. So don't say we didn't warn you!
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