FINALLY, someone has noticed.
Discos, wakes and other activities that are held on public streets sometimes cause traffic. Especially if the area where these are held is densely populated.
I know. These practices have become time-honored traditions so people, even those who are inconvenienced, tend to take a deep breathe, count to 10, exhale slowly and then accept the fact that here in the Philippines, these things happen. As they say, “Only in the...” Well, you know.
But that may change soon.
Some sectors would probably point out that it all started when President Rodrigo Duterte, during his State of the Nation Address last July, announced that anything that and anyone who impeded pedestrian and vehicle traffic on sidewalks and roads would have to go.
But I’d like to point out that Duterte had achieved that in Davao City when he was mayor there many, many years ago. By sheer political will. Long before Manila Mayor Isko Moreno became the poster boy of clearing and cleaning operations.
Of course, local government units and chief executives have no choice but to jump on the bandwagon. Never mind if the ride can sometimes get bumpy.
Here in Metro Cebu, the cities of Cebu, Talisay and Lapu-Lapu have been targeting sidewalk vendors and illegally parked vehicles. That is, until Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak spoke about the elephant in the room.
Oh no, he didn’t, some of you might say. But he did. And it was time someone did. Tumulak has authored an ordinance asking the public and barangay captains to refrain from holding activities on public roads. He has also requested chapel officers to limit festivities within their vicinities during fiestas, not to mention urge village chiefs to enforce and implement Duterte’s order.
But wait... Ask. Request. Urge. Not exactly words you use when you want someone to stop doing something. Especially if that something is either illegal or is detrimental to the overall good.
Ah, but the councilor said he understood the plight of some people who are forced to hold a wake on the road because they have nowhere else to go, referring to the problem as a “social dilemma.”
And dilemma indeed it is.
Roadside vigils are common in this predominantly Roman Catholic archipelago. Somewhere, every week, there is a fiesta. And somewhere, every day, there is a death. So in places were houses are densely packed together, these occasions have to take place outdoors. And with open spaces a premium, the activities end up getting held on the streets.
As one solution, the council is looking at building mortuaries in selected barangays. Hmm, I wonder if these mortuaries can also serve as dance halls.