The road forward or the road to disaster?

The road forward or the road to disaster?

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How to plan roadworks
In the last few months, the highway along Sibulan between Tubtubon and just before the Agan-an crossing has undergone repair and construction.

Specifically, the asphalt road has been replaced by cement for easier maintenance. Although negotiating this part of the highway is currently difficult and inconvenient, the completed roadworks promises to make driving through this part of the highway, faster, and easier for the taxpayers who are paying for this roadworks.

Hopefully, driving on this highway will also be much safer.

That stretch of the road is notoriously accident prone because it is relatively flat and straight, tempting motorists to carelessly overspeed. Many lives have been lost from vehicular accidents in this area.

Aside from considering the maintenance requirements for the road alone, DPWH should include in its planning safety and other considerations.

For instance, a consequence of the present roadwork is that the improved highway is at least a foot above its former level. This has resulted in the improved roadway above the ground level where the houses along the highway were built.

In the event of flooding, these houses would be vulnerable to great inconvenience, not to mention the potential damage to the structures.

Moreover, ingress and egress to homes along the highway which had driveways to their homes were also affected. All of a sudden, residents found it difficult or impossible to climb up the newly-elevated highway!

Secondly, the height of the highway was raised without also elevating the sidewalk/covers of the drainage canals. This has placed the motoring public at great risk.

Already, several vehicles have had minor mishaps from negotiating the temporary one lane road and falling off on the side to avoid incoming traffic.

As a consequence, these vehicles fell into an open manhole destroyed by the weight of their trucks, cars or even motorcycles.

Yes, the covers to the manholes of these canals have been destroyed because of impatient motorists trying to take shortcuts by using the sewage covers/sidewalks which cannot bear the weight of their vehicles.

The now-open/destroyed manholes compound the danger to pedestrians which, by rights, should be the only ones using these sidewalks.

These lowered sidewalks with open or destroyed manholes are what the law regards as a nuisance per se! Persons injured or whose vehicles are damaged because of this nuisance per se have a cause of action against the government and its agent, the contractor, for failing to provide protective barriers or even repairing the destroyed manholes.

More on potential liability, the roadworks have necessitated a one way on one lane traffic. During working hours from 7 am to 6 pm, a Stop & Go controller mans the road to facilitate traffic.

However, after the controller leaves, the one lane road becomes two-way and confusion and danger confronts the motorist.

Worse, motorcycles do not seem to be bound by, or refuse to obey, the alternating Stop & Go one-way rule. They breeze through as they please, endangering rule abiding vehicles on the road! Since these drivers are presumably literate and understand the meaning of Stop & Go, it would help a great deal if they went with the general flow of traffic instead of behaving as if they are exempt from the rules!

Finally, the elevated highway also has consequences to the utilities which serve the community along the its path. Last month, a construction crane traveling towards Dumaguete City, accidentally snagged the electric wires of NORECO 2 crossing the highway from the transformer on the other side. This resulted in a power blackout for several days to the homes serviced by this NORECO 2 line.

In addition, lines from utilities like PLDT, Globe and cable tv were likewise cut and disconnected. This caused great inconvenience to the community affected by this accident.

All these inconveniences could very well be avoided if the DPWH, in its planning to do roadworks, included in its program of work the elevation of its adjoining electric poles and sidewalks/sewage canal covers. The cost may be more, but costs will have to be absorbed in addressing these consequential problems.

If the goal of improving our roads is to achieve progress, comfort and prosperity, and not to court disaster by inviting inadvertent accidents, damage, or injury, the application of a comprehensive and integrated plan for roadworks is not only practical, it is necessary! The taxpayer deserves no less, and demands the highest quality of service from the government.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish!”

Tale of the Indian Giver
Taking another road, this one presumably is for the public safety and welfare. I refer to the much touted “War Against Drugs”. However, recently developments suggest that far from leading us to progress, this road may very well end in a disaster!

An Indian giver is a “a person who gives something to another and then takes it back or expects an equivalent in return.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). According to the dictionary definition, the term is intended to be offensive or an insult.

In tracing the cultural evolution of the word, the authors William and Mary Morris wrote, “If you are willing to concede that the Indians occasionally employed trickery in their dealings with the whites, you will understand why the white man came to use the word Indian as a synonym for ‘bogus’ or, to use a favorite adjective of children, ‘pretend.’ So, an Indian giver is, in a youngster’s own language, only a ‘pretend giver.” (Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, 1962).

Just a little over two weeks have passed since Vice President Leni Robredo accepted the President’s appointment making her the co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs.

Malacañang, through Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo, has expressed second thoughts about enlisting Leni in Duterte’s war on Drugs.

After declaring that Leni, as the new drug czar, would exercise comprehensive powers to ensure her success, Panelo claimed last Wednesday that Leni committed a “blunder“ by asking for the PDEA’s list of high-value drug targets. This “blunder” which has supposedly brought about a reconsideration by President Duterte and has caused Leni to lose her place in the Cabinet.

The reaction of Malacañang exposes its true face behind the mask of “All-Out War against Drugs!”

First, it reveals that Malacañang was not really serious in enlisting Leni’s help in solving this seemingly insurmountable problem faced by the country. It seems apparent now, that the real intention was to set Leni up to fail.

She had barely warmed her seat on the job, and already, the administration’s naysayers were out full force criticizing Leni’s pronouncements and intended actions: to cut off the drug supply from China, to coordinate with the UN Human Rights Commission, to have law enforcers use body cameras, and to access the list of high-value drug targets.

A very sensible initial plan. And yet, the officials who are supposed to be “coordinating” and “cooperating” with Leni were the first to shoot her ideas down, even before giving her plans a chance!

Worse, it reveals that Malacañang is not really serious about solving the drug problem! Whatever the real agenda is, we can only speculate. The administration’s actions, however, betray a lack of seriousness in addressing the problem.

Just like little children playing pretend games, it doesn’t seem like the administration is serious about solving the drug crisis!

It’s bad enough that we’re being treated like children in the way they underestimate our understanding and perception of issues.

Worse, they think and behave like children in supposedly solving the drug crisis. This explains why their fallback approach is no different from children playing war games or cops and robbers!

And so, what do children do when the game isn’t going their way? They take back whatever agreement or concessions they gave when the rules of the game were being negotiated.

“Indian Giver”!

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Author’s email: [email protected]

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