NOW that we are on the merriest month of year, December, we can expect a worsening of vehicular traffic in many parts of the country especially on roads leading to malls, tourist destinations and other places of interests.
Students both in public and private schools have their early vacation. Some areas that are near the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games venue have much earlier school breaks because of the suspension of claases. This does not however reduce the volume of vehicles plying our roads.
During this time of the year, people are receiving their 13th month pays, bonuses and other perks. People are somehow wealthy during this period. Its a natural thing for many when they have opulent pockets, they resort to spending whats inside, thus they look for places to spend.
Malls are the number one attractive places when people have something to spend. Since malls today offer one-stop shopping, one can buy almost everything at malls. The more items to buy, the more chances of buying. This is perhaps one law of economics.
It’s enticing to visit malls today since they also offer other attractions such as shows, concerts, amusement and other leisure activities. Other malls also provide bargain sales that is very attractive to the public. Because of these "magnets" that attract people, traffic jams leading to malls are almost inevitable.
In Pampanga, there are two giant malls that face each other and in between is a major highway. The road in between is crucial to vehicular traffic. Because of the great volume of vehicles going to these establishments, even those merely passing the said road are affected by the traffic woe that is in between the malls.
There are other malls in the province that likewise experience the influx of vehicles. Pampanga, if im not mistaken, is the province where malls are indiscriminately erected and established. This means that there are many mall goers.
Since there are many non-working days of this month, many go to interesting places not only for a chance vacation but also to spend the holidays not in homes but in places such as in cozy resorts or hotels. Again, traveling vacationers add up to the number of vehicles on roads.
Some things that are untimely during this month are the road repairs and constructions. I wonder why government agencies allow this considering the fact that roads swell with vehicles these days. We can find these in Mexico and San Simon towns.
Going back to the SEA Games, there are sweepers that guide and escort delegates. This means the blocking of road intersections and other crossroads that causes unprecedented traffic snarls. We cannot do away with these since we are the host country of this Asian sports event. We have foreign visitors that invite Filipino hospitality.
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It was the 24th anniversary of Sunstar Pampanga and I miss Tang Ram Mercado who never misses sparing his column for the anniversary by talking about his fellow workers in this paper. He also talks about some topics that describes the SSP as a family where there is happiness and unity among members.
A colleague and a senior columnist of SSP who earned great respect during his stay on earth, he was missed by his fellow writers and his readers as well.
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My kumareng Tonnette Orejas of the Philippine Daily Inquirer was recently elected as the president of the prestigious and revered Pampanga Press Club. It’s the first time a woman shall be handling the steering wheel. Congrats, mare ko.
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