I Can Cut Travel Time To Baguio in Half

This is what Bayani Fernando said in a conference. The Philippine Star published an article on this declaration as follows --

"Fernando: I can cut Manila-Baguio travel time

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani
Fernando said Tuesday he can reduce the travel time from Manila to
Baguio and vice versa — from eight to three hours.

Fernando, who graced the Texas Instruments, Inc. (TI) leadership
workshop, said he can reduce the travel time from Manila to
Baguio "if only McArthur Highway, Manila North Road, and other
laterals connecting both roads, are cleared of makeshift shanties of
illegal vendors, squatters and other illegal structures."

He said motoring to Baguio City from Metro Manila on conventional
roads, instead of the much traveled expressway route, takes more
than six to eight hours due to poor road conditions.

"We can do this if subsequent traffic engineering initiatives were
also put in place. Motorists can weave through traffic safely and
effortlessly at 80 kilometers per hour to and from Baguio City for
only three to four hours instead of the prolonged travel time,"
Fernando said.

He conducted a two-day planning session with his staff on the MMDA's
pending and future Metro Gwapo physical change and social
reorientation projects.

Fernando said he intends to extend the MMDA's traffic management
authority to the provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac and
Pangasinan to help solve the traffic gridlock in these areas.

"The MMDA will initially assess the traffic conditions in the four
provinces where motorists traverse going to and from Baguio City and
come up with traffic improvement studies and strategies to be
submitted to President Arroyo for approval," Fernando said.

Fernando said Baguio farmers and traders will improve their earning
capacity once the roads in these provinces were cleared of all forms
of obstructions.

He said MMDA traffic experts will give their counterparts in the
provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac and Pangasinan a week-long
orientation and training on how to rationalize the use of
thoroughfares, traffic enforcement operations and installation of
traffic fixtures and signages, among other things.

Fernando said the MMDA has recently extended its traffic management
duties to roads leading to Bacoor, Cavite and Laguna as an offshoot
of President Arroyo's directive to help solve traffic problems in
these provinces.

He said Tanauan City in Batangas, Obando in Bulacan and Rosales in
Pangasinan will follow suit. Jose Rodel Clapano "


A big "if". As in Baguio can improve its traffic management and decongest if the circumferential road is completed and existing major thoroughfares widened but structures, squatters and non-squatters have already built on road easements. Would there be political will to dismantle these structures to make way for road improvements? This is one major problem in the city. The MMDA Chairman is talking about clearing road easements from Bulacan,Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan, La Union, and up to our mountain city. How many people will be affected? Will they be amenable to have their properties expropriated? Would Malacanang have the political will to support the MMDA Chairman in this undertaking? If there is one guy who can pursue such an undertaking, it would be Bayani Fernando. But without the President's office supporting him all the way the project can only be a dream...a fantasy. Maybe when our good Senator Gordon gets elected as President? Looking forward to it.

ERAP’s Conviction and the Numbers Game

My decision to abandon a promising career in the country was in response to my father’s insight on the state of affairs of the nation when Joseph Estrada became President. He foresaw the inevitability from his own personal assessment of the things going on at that time. My conversation with him (the last one) was at the closing hours of FVR's term as President. In his words of advice, he told me to go ahead with my plans of bringing my family to the states because with ERAP as President, the country “will be flushed down the drain!” He did not live long enough to see the backlash and the anger of a people who took ERAP out of power while he was still in the process of doing so.

To me ERAP acted the way a typical Filipino who gets a taste of power will act. Reign as the King! Being President was the ultimate. As the cliché goes “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. We see them strutting around in the cockfighting arenas, the casinos, the bars and the nightspots along Ermita ---councilors, mayors, governors, congressmen, senators. As ERAP passed through these political rung from his silver screen days he flaunted his power. He womanized, gambled, joined cockfights, drunk with his “compadres” and listened to his cordon-sanitaria who enticed him on different ways to fleece the people in the form of juicy contracts. Syndicating the underground economy churned by the illegal numbers game was the ultimate. Whoever whispered this idea to his ear ought to be shot along with him.

Yet we have a lot of “eraps” scattered across the country. The conviction of the model by the Sandiganbayan would hardly put a dent on the score of high and mighty that practice this anomalous culture. The attempt to nationalize the illegal numbers brought a President’s downfall. Yet the game still exists. The numbers game is back to its old form. As we have seen, it can only go as far as provincial or regional territories. No one can say this is all mine, Erap's mistake. The model got greedy and he has to pay the price for it. Yet to a lot of Filipinos, ERAP didn’t do anything wrong. Why so? Gambling is an acceptable past time to most Filipinos. Whether the game is illegal or not, they don’t care. In fact the illegal numbers game of jueteng cannot be stopped primarily because there is a big market thriving in the numbers game. All public officials and the police are aware of this. No law can stop the illegal numbers game. And the smaller eraps scattered across the country who have rationalized that the numbers game is a victimless crime just as the model Erap has apparently rationalized, now benefit from the game. The sandigangbayan has its work cut out for them. Because they have convicted the model ERAP, they have in effect declared a war on the other eraps across the country. Who will be next? Still, prospective Presidentiables need to have a stand on this very sensitive issue and push for a standard of moral decency in the bureaucracy that everyone will follow.

Fruits of Hope

When I read about what Sen. Dick Gordon initiated doing in Sulu, Mindanao shipping tons of fruit from the province to outlets in Metro Manila, I got curious about Sulu’s economic profile. So I turned to my pc and googled Sulu. Not a single entry to describe its economy! Can you believe that! The absence of an economic profile in wikipedia brings to the fore the neglect Sulu and the other neighboring Mindanao provinces have suffered all these years. Government is so out of reach. We shouldn’t wonder why our Muslim brothers clamor for separation.

But questions came to mind. Would an economic approach solve political issues raised by our Muslim brothers that push them to move for separation? What motivated Sen. Gordon in creating such a program as “Fruits of Hope”? Was it purely a humanitarian effort and not politically motivated? I bet it was. The clashes between the military and Muslim insurgents have made victims of its general population. It practically immobilized economic activities. Non-combatants suffer and both sides are to be blamed for the suffering. Who among our leaders in government ever thought of the victims? Some may have but only played lip service to it. All talk no action. Now here’s a guy who gets a clear perspective of the situation and goes into action solving a seemingly insoluble problem. Would it have been politically motivated? It would be the current administration who stands to benefit from the program. It puts the current administration in the good graces of Mindanao’s population. An apparent consequence of the program is the possibility of separatists to get back into the negotiating table. It would not have been a wise move politically as it gives due advantage to his competition. Yet he did it anyway. Just as he transformed Subic Bay into a bustling urban center. That’s just how he is. It is obvious that he is a creative thinker and a man of action. He is a man who thinks out of the political box. The kind of leader we need to lead us into the future.

Baguio For Gordon

The presidential elections is three years away and potential candidates for the position are prohibited by law to start campaigning outside of the stipulated campaign period. As concerned citizens however we can air our views specially in very significant matters as our choice for President come election time. Ordinary citizens who are concerned for their future must understand that politics greatly influence ones life. The people we elect as leaders in political exercises such as local, regional and national elections will shape the future of the country. Whether it goes up or down depend on how well ordinary citizens exercise their right of suffrage. Let us not waste it !

The objective of this blog is to convince readers that Sen. Dick Gordon is the man who must lead us to a more promising future. Among our political leaders, he shows the best promise. What he did as Mayor of Olongapo, as Tourism Secretary, as SBMA Administrator and what he is now doing as Senator and as Red Cross Volunteer reflects the kind of leadership we need to get us out of the rut we now are in. Since a blog is a two way traffic, I would expect comments from anyone who can tell me otherwise. Who knows you might convince me that your candidate is better.

This blog also initiates a movement in my locale that is Baguio City the reason for this blog's title. If Baguio had Dick Gordon for Mayor, we would have retained our status as the prime tourism center in the country. But that would be wishful thinking. Now if we have him for President, I am pretty sure cities and provinces all throughout the country will follow the path of Olongapo, that is towards a more progressive future. Voters in this city are perceived to be intelligent voters. I'd like to hear what they say. Would they be for Dick Gordon as I am? Or would they be for a different candidate? People of Baguio who cares to join me should create their own blog and push for the candidacy of Sen. Dick Gordon.