Padilla: Read the signs

A FEW weeks before Christmas, the street where I live is being patched up and we suspect that this was triggered when one of the properties became an orphanage and was graced by Digong during its dedication. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) patchwork starts right after our house and ends three houses from the orphanage. For what strange reason is this patchwork job, I suspect it’s about the budget.

As of late, the street has become an access road for private vehicles when the main highway is congested thus the humps and rough patches. But it’s a narrow two-lane strip and like other Philippine villages, the streets have also become parking spaces for some heedless homeowners.

The DPWH has placed detour and warning signs on both ends as the concrete surface has been scooped out and sharp, broken edges have been protruding all over. What really amazed me and our neighbors was how motorists would ignore the warning signs and insist on using the road. As the diggings got deeper, we soon worried about accidents and indeed there had been several. Two cars have had bumpers broken and tail ends cracked. Just last week, a couple from Mintal suffered severe scrapes and sprain when their motorcycle skidded and slipped.

As I could be away for days and even weeks at a time, I look forward to the latest update to our street’s series of unfortunate events. Residents have become irate over motorists we consider as beyond stubborn and have pondered on having the signs written in Bisaya to be better understood. But then again how many in this country can NOT understand “do not enter”? Many---like 200-many if my count for several days have been accurate. Most of them were motorcycle drivers and passengers and five percent of that were four-wheeled vehicles.

“Detour” and “Do not enter” aren’t rocket science concepts or metaphysics to be unfathomable but disregarding these shows the kind of mindset the Filipinos generally have. We would dare until it’s too late and then we blame it on somebody else and in this case -- a busted lamppost, a sign too small, signs too few, etc. Think about HIV. There’s this increasing number of HIV infection in the Philippines at 32 cases of HIV per day.

The number of infection worldwide has dropped but in the Philippines, the number of infection has reached epidemic proportions despite the warnings, free testing and free treatment given by the government.

Condoms can now be bought even at convenience stores with varying price ranges and variants (there’s even one that glows in the dark). Yet, sexually active Pinoys still engage in unprotected sex increasing HIV risk.

At what do we pay for this stupidity? The youngest infected with HIV due to sexual transmission is only 15 years old. And in our street, another motorcycle driver fell off his bike last night scraped a foot-long of skin off his right leg and this despite the signs and makeshift fence we have built.

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