LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — You’ve heard of ‘sleight of hand’, a clever trick that requires manual dexterity which the average person is unable to detect. A person who has this gift of dexterity, what we call a magician, can virtually make an object “disappear” into thin air by cleverly physically moving it somewhere else without being detected by an observer. A magic trick, as we’ve grown up to believe!
I have been to countless magic shows performed by magicians with varying degrees of talent. I’ve always gone into those shows consciously telling myself to watch their hands intently because I know it’s not real magic— there is no real magic!
Still, the challenge to “catch” the trick is just as overwhelming as being fooled. But for all my attention was worth, I have never been able to see the sleight.
Surprisingly, as many times as this has happened, I’ve never felt disappointed because the more I didn’t see it, the more satisfying the shows had been. I guess that’s all that really matters when you’re paying to be entertained. I can say they were worth the money I paid.
The magician makes his living by making us believe something is real when it’s not. We allow him to make his living by letting ourselves be deceived! And because of its entertainment value, we don’t complain.
In some human societies, magic is even woven into religious practices, and is an essential part of pagan rituals. Without magic, we wouldn’t have mythology, and there would not be stories of high adventure to awe us, and give us a feeling that we are connected to something larger than ourselves. Magic is one of those things that we treat as real, even if we consciously know it is not!
The magician is successful because his goal is to entertain and we are, without a doubt, entertained. His sleight of hand, then, satisfies a purpose.
We are now in a new year. Whether the year just past had been a fruitful one remains debatable to many of us. To some, it may have been business as usual, to others, exceptional, and to others still, a devastating one. But such are the elements that lend flavor to our human existence.
How about for our City and the collective aspirations of its citizens? Did 2024 bring meaningful changes to our City? What goals were achieved, wholly or even incrementally?
While each one of us does not see things in the same light, there are particular things in our government that each of us should shine our lights on as part of our civic responsibility. What do you shine your light on?
Myself, well, I will take it one at a time, and say that my light is now on the roads and bridges that the current City Mayor has been responsible for building. There is no argument from me that these projects are indeed commendable, considering that to a certainty, no past Mayor ever accomplished even close to the same.
The goal of having enough roads and bridges was, and ever will be, to ALLEVIATE THE TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN THE CITY. What other justified reason could there possibly be to spend millions of pesos of taxpayer money but on projects that would solve the most nagging problems?!
Just as Rome was not built in a day, the completion of these projects took some time to realize. In fact, it took almost all of the Mayor’s three terms of office. I have to hand it to him to have succeeded where others failed, all the while also building Pantawan 2, a project that wasn’t even one of the nagging ones.
I wonder what more could have been accomplished had all the effort been spent on those things that have always been needed.
If this Administration did not build Pantawan 2, the next one would probably still build it, albeit a little later. Well, maybe the Mayor thought that should somebody else, other than someone from his family, take the reins of the City government next, the Pantawan 2 project would never see the light of day. Therefore, the haste to do it in his time. This is just a theory, of course.
It’s hard to argue whether this theory holds water or not because no one has ever been documented to have done what he has done. It seems that nowhere else in the country has there been a thorough compliance with former President Duterte’s Build-Build-Build imperative than in Dumaguete City, a feat that would make anyone glaringly visible. In hindsight, yeah, could some other mayor have done it?
These roads and bridges are already there! The question left now is simple: Have the new roads and bridges ALLEVIATED THE TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN DUMAGUETE CITY?
Who can tell? Well, you, me, all of us! Well?
The benefit of some things are not immediately obvious. Even medicine will have a gradually escalating effect. But whatever it is, there will always be an observable difference between the before and after, regardless of degree.
In the case of the new bridges and roads in Dumaguete, there should be some observable difference by now in the flow of traffic around the City; traffic should be considerably better than before because of them, right? Well, have the same proponents of those projects offered a quantifiable statement on the benefits reaped thus far?
No! This may be because it is not even measurable.
Before the roads and bridges were built to solve the traffic problem, the City resorted to drawing up a one-way traffic scheme. That was the best idea during someone’s tenure as the City’s Traffic Czar.
To this humble columnist, all that scheme did was spread the chaos a little more evenly throughout the City. It did nothing to increase the speed of commutes or to promote safer drives. It did not effectively address the problem of the growing number of vehicles in the City.
To past Mayors who failed to achieve what this Mayor has, the idea of building as many roads and bridges may still seem a difficult evolution. One thing is for sure, though, these achievements have made the current Mayor’s performance a benchmark against which all aspirants to the job will be measured. He has become a reference standard. And this distinction will probably apply to whoever he blesses to take his place.
The people are unaware that the idea that “no one else would be good enough” is slowly and discreetly massaged into their consciousness.
There would still be hope for those who would like to try their hand at being mayor of Dumaguete. Even with all these achievements, the original goal has not yet been reached: TO ALLEVIATE THE TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN THE CITY.
Why is that? Well, if you have not realized by now, the solution to the problem does not lie solely in increasing the number of roads and bridges. It lies in the strict enforcement of traffic laws because, if you have observed, the congestion really stems from drivers violating these laws and getting away with it. This includes everything from tolerating unregistered vehicles, unlicensed drivers, ignorance of traffic signs, disregard for safety, etc.
The next time you’re out and about, make it a point to make acute observations of the traffic.
So while the bridges and roads may seem to be the greatest achievements of any city executive so far, they prove to be an exhibition in Sleight of Mind. They assuage our desire for something they say is needed TO ALLEVIATE THE TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN THE CITY, without actually accomplishing that end, after which they act as if the show was a success. And they expect the people to believe them.
The people have failed miserably to catch the sleight here. This could be the blunder mayoral hopefuls can take advantage of when they make their own campaign promises.
With the way things are, though, they’re way behind. Good luck to them!
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Author’s email: [email protected]