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Thursday, April 03, 2003
Wenceslao: Lack of respect for commuters
By Bong Wenceslao
I have long been wary of the people now running the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom). The loss of confidence, I think, started during the Sinulog celebration a couple of years back when traffic was so bad I considered it the one of the worst handled in years. Lack of preparation and incompetence were written all over.
Now, look at the mess Citom created in Colon St. and its environs. Aside from lack of preparation and incompetence, add refusal to heed age-old teachings. Consider this one: “If it isn’t broke, why fix it?” Except for some problems here and there, the one-way setup in Cebu’s oldest street was okay. So why is Citom making it two-way again?
I don’t want to speculate, although motivations unflattering to some Citom top guns are already being spread around. What concerns me more is the effect of the “experiment,” which has already sparked a thousand and one curses. The sad part is Citom officials are not listening and are, as expected, insisting they are correct.
But let us go to the core of the matter: Citom’s incompetence. I think the public can forgive Citom people if their only fault was the failure to conduct an honest-to-goodness information drive on the “experiment.” (Funny, but Citom deliberately did not send its press release to Sun.Star Cebu and Sun.Star Superbalita—and paid dearly for it.)
But when Citom Executive Director Dennis Jabonero admitted they underestimated” the flow of traffic along Panganiban and Leon Kilat Sts., I could not help but shake my head. Almost every commuter knows the volume of traffic there. Maybe Mr. Jabonero should ride passenger jeepneys from time to time so he won’t sound ignorant when he speaks.
I now live in Inayawan and early on used to ride jeepneys plying the 11A route. But I let go of the practice because I felt I would end up having a heart attack cursing the chaos every time we reach the side of Colon St. near Panganiban. It’s not only about traffic volume but also about jeepney drivers intentionally going slow or stopping to pick up passengers.
And the failure to re-program the traffic lights before implementing Colon’s two-way traffic scheme is unforgivable. It is incompetence at its worst. More than that, it shows Citom officials’ lack of respect for commuters. In this sense, I will re-echo the question raised by a passenger last Tuesday: Naunsa man ang Citom? Gisayonan sila sa publiko?”
P.S. Lawyer Ping Uckung, a Text Reax contributor, asked me to look for the April 2002 issue of Newsweek wherein it was predicted that oil would run dry in the United States in a decade. The magazine also reportedly pointed to Iraq as one of the possible sources of oil “but the obstacle is Saddam (Hussein).”
I still have to get my hand on that Newsweek back issue. But as I pointed out earlier, what the US-led coalition will do with the oil wells it has seized in Iraq will prove how honest its intention is in invading that sovereign state. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said sale from Iraqi oil would be placed under a United Nation’s trust fund to benefit the Iraqis. Let us see.
Meanwhile, texter John Sia asked me to continue exposing the “hairy hands of big capitalists” salivating for Iraq’s oil. Mr. Sia also said white people are notorious for dominating and colonizing lands they don’t own. I think, however that it is a sweeping generalization, because people of other skin colors have also been guilty of colonizing lands not their own.
Finally, here’s an interesting question from another Text Reax contributor: “Wasn’t the world much better when the American president was just concerned with sex?”
(For your Text Reax contribution, me cell phone number is 09166496783. Please give your complete name and address. E-mail: opinion@ sunstar.com.ph and cowens21@lycos.com)
(April 3, 2003 issue)
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