Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Covington: Taxi By Gary Covington Looking In
NOT often do I resort to a taxi but on Saturday -- rainy Saturday -- I left my bicycle at home, jeepneyed down to Victoria Plaza and, laden with a week's worth of groceries, took a taxi home. And survived.
Davao's taxis don't change do they? The junker I took was a non-aircon Kia driven by a youth in ragged jeans and T-shirt - no green uniform shirt to be seen, not even stuffed down between the seats. He drove with what he obviously thought was panache -- driving seat right back, arms out straight, flicking the gearstick about with a flourish and a sneer. I fully expected to drift around the curving flyover slip road - all ready to lean out my side as a counterweight but no, we stayed on the rails, Fangio at the wheel (that shows my age) only fluffing his gear change, juddering down from fourth to second in one go. Any Kadayawan visitor having the misfortune to flag this guy down is in for the shock of his life.
Did the driver have an ID? Dunno. I was too busy telling the beads, polishing my lucky rabbit's foot, cursing whatever agency supposedly regulates Davao's taxi fleet. Wondering whether the guys in the office ever have to take a taxi themselves? Wondering why there isn't a plain clothes inspector out in the field who takes a couple of rides every day, checking up on things.
Most nonsensical line from the papers last week was "The regional office of the Commission of Human Rights is expected to step into the Pujada mining row."
Well, yes I expect someone at Human Rights has smelt some media mileage but wait -- they'll have to fall in line behind all the other concerned agencies itching to poke their noses into other people's business.
Like the World Bank -- you remember them, the report people who, the other night on the evening news, were telling us -- and all agog were we -- that manic Manila is prone to landslides, earthquakes and even fallout from an erupting Taal volcano. If it erupts of course and if the wind is blowing the right way.
What on earth is the World Bank doing cackling on about earthquakes and volcanoes? Don't we have a national geological service for that sort of stuff. Keep your eyes open -- there are cash prizes going to anyone spotting World Bank doomsayers snooping about Mount Apo.
The weather now and I'm a mite baffled by the various calls going out for "flood prone" areas to acquire and install simple rain gauges.
What good will they do? Flood prone areas are generally not flooded by local rainfall but rather that which falls many miles uphill. Rain, which is collected and concentrated by a river system into a single destructive flood.
In an ideal world, the entire catchment area of a drainage system would be monitored - can't the weather people be involved here? They know where and when heavy rain is falling -- couldn't they post a "flooding likely" warning or am I talking through my hat, not being well up on this sort of thing? Probably.
