CEBU City north district Councilor Joy Augustus Young should be reminded of the old saying; “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
And since we are celebrating the Chinese New Year today and considering that the honorable councilor is of Chinese descent, he should be further reminded of the old Bisaya Chinese saying; “Daghan sulti, daghan sayop. Maayo pa wala sulti, wala sayop.” (More talk, more mistakes. Less talk, less mistakes. No talk, no mistake.)
Because Young talked too much and contradicted one of the possible solutions offered by President Rodrigo Duterte to the “horrendous” traffic situation in Cebu during the President’s visit here last Sinulog, Young, an ally of the defunct Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), has now become a laughing stock.
The chief executive offered to look for funds for the construction of skyways or expanding upward like in Metro Manila to ease the traffic situation. That was his promise to the Cebuanos before his term would expire in 2022.
But Young criticized the proposal of the President, saying “Why adopt it here when it does not solve the more problematic traffic mess in Metro Manila? It failed there, so it will also fail here,” Young reportedly said.
As expected, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino, also of Chinese descent, came to the defense of the President.
He lambasted Young, calling the latter ignorant to the solution of the traffic problem.
“The solution of Young to the traffic problem is like an expired medicine. It should have been implemented several decades ago,” Dino said. Young maintained that the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is the effective solution to the traffic problem. The BRT was pushed by Young’s political master, Tomas Osmeña, a long time ago.
I agree with Dino. There should be a “basket” of solutions to solve traffic congestion. Like mass transport systems, Light Rail Transit (LRT), monorail and BRT are just among the long-term components of the basket of solutions.
Of course, there are the basic infrastructures like road widening, construction of skyways, flyovers and tunnels, etc. There are also short-term components like effective traffic system, clearing of roads, efficient and effective traffic management and enforcement and discipline of the drivers and the commuters. Skyways and tunnels were proposed by north district Rep. Raul de Mar but officials of the Regional Development Council (RDC) who were allied with Dino blocked his proposals for political reasons.
Putting up skyways or expanding upward is not really the ultimate solution to the problem but in some other ways would help ease traffic congestion. We can observe that in Metro Manila and other countries. So, to our local political leaders, you better stop quarrelling and instead help one another to solve the traffic problem in Cebu.
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The Rotary Club of Metro Cebu (RCMC), in partnership with the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Employees Credit Cooperative Inc. (PECCI) and the Basilica Minore del Sto Niño de Cebu, is offering a free cataract and pterygium surgery to our fellow Cebuanos.
The mission will be on Jan. 27 to 31, 2020 at the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño de Cebu in Cebu City. Pre-registration is now open. Please visit the Basilica Medical Clinic.
The free cataract and pterygium surgery is one of the latest projects of the Rotary Club of Metro Cebu, which is now on its 42nd year of service to the community after it was chartered on June 3, 1978 by Rotary International.
Over the years, the club has conducted several medical and relief missions in disaster-stricken areas. The club conducted free operations on more than 3,000 children who were born with cleft lips and palates through the Operation Restore Hope medical mission with doctors who are specialists in maxillofacial and plastic surgery from Australia and the United States.
The RCMC is also running a thrice weekly feeding program for some 100 of the poorest students of the Don Carlos Gothong Memorial High School in Cebu City.