An 11-car pile-up on the Fernan Bridge

Last Monday, a terrible 11-vehicle accident happened on the Marcelo Fernan Bridge when these 11 vehicles piled up at the foot of the bridge in its steepest part. First of all, let me point out that vehicles that pile up the roadways are commonplace in areas like the United States, Canada or in Europe because of extreme weather conditions caused by merciless snowfalls that often block the sight of drivers who only get to see the stalled vehicles when it is already too late to stop. Hence a pile up of cars often happen. But last Monday in Mactan Island, the weather was perfect… therefore that road accident was something that didn’t have to happen, but it did!

That Monday road incident happened simply because the majority of Cebuano drivers simply do not know how to drive their vehicles above 70 kilometers per hour. Worse, that accident happened at the steepest part of the Marcelo Fernan Bridge, which gives you an idea that we simply have too many inexperienced drivers in our roads. This only tells you that educating our drivers, which is the job of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), is seriously lacking.

Right now many truck drivers still drive at the left side of the road when all trucks and buses are expected to use only the rightmost side of the road. The same is true with multi-cab drivers who do not know how to drive more than 60 kph. Hence, I dare say that it is high time for LTO to conduct a random test of drivers to test their reaction when they drive on faster lanes. Also, the LTO must sit down with the International Truckers Groups to tell them about the need for drivers to conduct at the very least a weekly check on their vehicles, especially their braking systems.

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Gasoline prices have blown up sky high, not because of the Department of Finance (DOF) Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, but because of the gravity of world prices governing petroleum products, initiated by the withdrawal of the US nuclear deal with Iran that former President Barack Obama signed, which at the end of this deal, would result in Iran having a nuclear capability.

That landmark deal signed in 2015 lifted sanctions on Iran that crippled its economy and cut its oil exports practically in half. However at the end of the day, nuclear inspections in Iran were limited rather than becoming an easier task, which in the end was a deal that Iran truly cherished, which makes us question why then Pres. Obama signed this deal with Iran? With US President Donald Trump getting out of that deal was a campaign promise he made and he has since gotten out of that bad deal.

With that withdrawal, it gives Iran the option of expelling inspectors and resuming their nuclear activities that supposedly it has agreed to suspend. So at this point, we cannot be sure whether the oil prices would continue at this very high rate, but certainly we can only hope that world oil prices could stabilize as soon as possible. More so if US Pres. Donald Trump would meet up with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un on the 12th of June, then we hope for great things to happen on this very highly volatile world. We are positivthat the Trump meeting with Kim Jong Un will result to a very positive meeting… so let’s cross our fingers and wish us luck!

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Harry Roque, Presidential Spokesman said, “Now of course we would like to have BBL enacted before Congress goes into recess on June 2, but their promise really is they will do everything possible to pass BBL.” Roque said that Pres. Duterte met with lawmakers and members of the Bangsamoro Transition Council Monday night to discuss ways to harmonize the BBL drafts.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said the President personally told them during the meeting that he will issue the needed certification.

Mind you, the senators, particularly Senate President Vicente Sotto, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, were still writing amendments to the BBL. Sotto said after its approval both chambers will immediately form the bicameral conference committee on the BBL to reconcile the conflicting provisions of their respective versions of the measures.

Sotto said it was possible that Duterte will sign it immediately to report the same in his State of the Nation Address on July 23. Of course there is no question that the BBL needs to be approved by both the House of Representatives and the Philippine Senate hopefully by next month. Thanks to then Pres. Aquino, his Mamasapano incident forced Congress to stop the BBL rather than approve it due to the 44 Special Armed Forces (SAF) men that were killed in that encounter in Mamasapano.

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