I THOUGHT life in retirement would approximate what has been talked about, that it would be a life of bliss, with the retiree having control of his schedule and being able to do what he wants to do, like being leisurely. That isn’t totally true, of course, at least for me. If you notice the difficulty in keeping up with the days my column is supposed to come out, that’s one proof my life since retirement is far from being leisurely.
But that is mainly because I still have to be a breadwinner and keep the family on a steady keel financially. I ended up being tied down to an endeavor that is sucking away much of the time I should have spent for leisure and even for tasks I like most, like writing and political strategizing. But I could not complain much because the decision to engage in this endeavor was mine alone. As my wife would say, “Nganong ni enter.”
But there are small windows for me to be leisurely, like after bringing my sons to school early in the morning. That was when I found out that the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has pursued the long dreamed of establishment of free wi-fi in public places like town plazas. I was surprised months ago when “Pipol Konek” popped up in the wi-fi settings in my cell phone when I was in a town plaza and I was able to go online without having to type in a security password. The connection was slow but as we Cebuanos would say, “maayo na lang na kay sa wa gyud.”
The first question that popped up in my mind, of course, was why the lack of information on the matter? Was that because the project was still in its experimental stage? I asked a town functionary about it but he was obviously not a fan of it, noting that the connection was, “hinay kaayo.“ But we have to start somewhere and besides beggars can’t be choosers.
While writing this column, I opened the Wi-Fi setting of my CP and no longer found “Pipol Konek” but “freewififorall.” What happened? Was the previous Wi-Fi provider dismissed? I clicked on it and it didn’t connect online until I decided to drop the attempt.
So what is the status of this project, if ever there was one? If I remember it correctly, free Wi-Fi in public places is supposedly one of the projects to be funded by the Duterte administration’s ambitious project-implementation sweep anchored by the so-called “Build, Build, Build” program. It would be good if the DOST or should I say the newly created Department of Information and Communications Technology updates us on the status of this project.
By the way, I usually meet former broadcaster Eric Pagar, who is with the Minglanilla Municipal Government, and he has provided me updates on the current facelifting of the town’s public plaza. As we all know, Minglanilla’s neighbor, the City of Naga, is also redesigning its public plaza using the ingenuity of the world-renowned Kenneth Cobonpue. These plazas will surely see an increase in the number of visitors, who will be better served if offered free and fast internet connectivity.