LOOK towards the future. Must have vision. More so when what's coming is predictable. Look at our towns and cities today. They are no longer live able, because there was lack of vision among the leaders of yesteryears. There are no railways working anymore, here in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The ride from Tutuban in Manila up to Damortis in La Union making stops in Malolos and Angeles are only memories now. Even the now MacArthur highway became so narrow and government only started the expansion during President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's watch. Too late, those trees lining up the road stretch are too beautiful to be cut.
And to think how many presidents of our country came from the central and northern Luzon, say Elpidio Quirino, Ferdinand Marcos, Ramon Magsaysay, the two Macapagals and the two Arroyos. What happened to their advisers? There was never a national strategy to this effect.
Almost all streets in Metro Manila are clogged. The main arteries, like the Epifanio De Los Santos (EDSA), Quezon Avenue, Roxas Boulevard and the secondaries are virtually park areas if seen from above. Too stressful now driving around Metro Manila any time of day and night. And coming from Pampanga going to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Government policies have their consequences. It is absurd, ridiculous or it may be said that it is downright atrocious for the present government not to fully utilized the Clark International Airport despite the air traffic congestion of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The NAIA in five to ten years can no longer accommodate the wide bodied aircraft because the 3.2 kilometer length of the single runway will place the airline passengers at risk. And compare this to the Clark airport which has two 3.5 kilometer parallel runways with a provision for expansion. It is indeed the future international gateway, but not much was done in the past more than five years under the Pnoy administration.
Of course it is within this time frame, five to ten years, that the infrastructures including the construction of a modern terminal building, and the missing link which is a railway system that will move in and out passengers, should now be in drawing boards and be implemented ASAP. Every poltician, particularly the presidentiables are making grand promises about the development of the Clark airport. Hopefully the promises will not remain promises once elected.
In the meanwhile, each towns and cities should learn now how to master plan and strict adhere to their land use plans. Re-development is the operative word. In Angeles City this how our current Mayor Edgardo D. Pamintuan is precisely doing. With the help of the Angeles City council, the master planning is now in consolidation. The growth of the city cannot be taken for granted. Mayor Pamintuan is looking towards the future.