Thursday, December 20, 2007 Espinoza: BOPK’s bet for ABC president By Elias L. Espinoza Free Zone
THE way the bet of Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswaganfor president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) was chosen showed that Talamban Barangay Captain Alvin Arcilla is dispensable.
But if Arcilla has a backbone nobody could have prevented him from running against Guadalupe Barangay Captain Eugenio “Jingjing” Faelnar and going against the wishes of his boss, Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
After all barangays, under the Local Government Code, are autonomous and independent from towns or cities in matters of administrative and fiscal management.
The only problem is that the mayor bullies party mates who go against his dictates. Worse, he whimsically tries to alter boundaries of barangays to deprive defiant barangay captains, like Lahug’s Mary Ann de los Santos, of income.
I don’t suppose Arcilla will just weep in the corner over the lost opportunity and curse those who gave him sweet promises but dropped him like a hot potato.
Faelnar showed he has no word of honor. He is now a typical “trapo” like his boss. Faelnar, together with Osmeña, endorsed Arcilla for the post when he (Faelnar) announced he would not run. Well, Faelnar and the mayor are not fools because they changed their minds.
But what could have been Faelnar reason for seeking a reelection? Did he leave skeletons that he does not want the new ABC board to discover? I don’t suppose it had something to do with money.
Perhaps Tomas worried that with Atan Guardo’s resources his brother, Sambag Barangay Captain Jerry Guardo, might win over Arcilla. But aren’t BOPK barangay captains dominant in the ABC?
***
Talisay City officials and the police should implement to the letter traffic laws, rules and regulations along the highway that connects to Cebu City’s South Road Properties (SRP). Danger lurks in this stretch of the road.
Trisikads and tricycles compete with speeding motor vehicles. Worse, trisikad drivers drive against the flow of traffic. These contraptions do not only slow down the traffic but also pose great risk on the lives and limbs of motorists.
In my several trips to southern towns passing through the SRP, I have seen how trisikad and tricycle drivers in Talisay blatantly violate traffic laws without fear of arrest or of an accident happening.
Trisikad and tricycle drivers are not the only traffic violators in this road. Some drivers of cars and trucks ignore the traffic sign that requires slow moving vehicles to stay on the right lane.
Fast moving vehicles have no choice but to pass or overtake on the right lane because some stupid and slow moving drivers stay on the left lane. The left lane is the passing or overtaking lane under our traffic laws.
The problem of undisciplined drivers is rooted in the indiscriminate issuance of driver’s licenses. Several unqualified drivers were issued new licenses or their licenses were renewed for “sum” reasons.
Several secretaries of the Land Transportation Office have come and gone but this problem has remained. I once apprehended a truck driver for driving against the flow of traffic. You know what he told me? He didn’t know it was a violation.
Look at Hong Kong and Singapore. Even in the absence of traffic cops, drivers of motor vehicles observe and follow traffic laws, rules, and regulations thus traffic is orderly.
Again, I am calling on Mayor Soc Fernandez to order his police officers to strictly enforce traffic laws, rules and regulations in this highway without fear or favor to avoid accidents.
