I AM amused with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 officials. They have a flair for the dramatics.
Not too long ago, they raised a furor by reprimanding and threatening SM Seaside City with sanctions for violating the rule on easement– that SM Seaside’s stair was too near the roadside and posed danger to motorists. If I remember right, they raised the same easement issue with Filinvest, specifically the Citi du Mare.
Yet they turned a blind eye to the batching plant put up by Dakay Construction (across the Cebu Evergreen Memorial Park) at the Talisay side of the SRP.
Any person not necessarily an engineer but with common sense would easily notice the two silos erected on the edge of their perimeter fence, flush to the roadside/highway portion and would conclude that these silos posed a grave danger to motorist passing the highway.
If an earthquake strikes that place, or an errant cyclone like the one that struck Brgy. Tungkil, Minglanilla in 2013 would pass the Dakay batching plant and pull down the two silos, and if these will collapse on the highway side, these will practically span up to the road and cover half of the highway. What if motorists would be cruising that side once this happens? Imagine the consequences.
So wake up DPWH, flex your muscles on this one while it’s not too late. Likewise, if I were Dakay Construction, I would voluntarily tear down these silos and transfer them to the other side, pronto.--Engr. Ramon Larrobis of Lower Calajoan, Minglanilla, Cebu
Robredo’s suggestion
We want change but we do not know how to do it. It was Jessie Robredo who wanted to empower the barangays not just because it is the smallest form of government but most of all because the constituencies of municipal, district, provincial and national levels are found there. Mayors, governors, congressmen and the national leaders cannot win any election without the barangay voters.
Robredo wanted ordinary citizens to be involved in good governance by creating a citizens’ watchdog to monitor the expenses of government projects. Every centavo the local government spends will be open to the public.
There will be no charges of corruption anymore because the government officials will spend the people’s money according to their needs and the people themselves will be able to monitor it. There will be complete transparency and accountability.
The candidate who wants to implement this is the candidate who does not want to be corrupt. Vote for him.
Senators can do better by transforming Robredo’s suggestion into law instead of conducting investigations. Do you not find it frustrating that when things get interesting during these supposedly public investigations suddenly they will hold the sessions in secret because it might involve national security, and reveal to us later on what happened in the deliberations?
But we do not really know, do we? Those sessions are not taped, and we will just have to take their word for it. And that adds more to our frustration.
The popularity of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is caused largely by the problem of economics. Traditional politicians have promised the poor everything under the sky just to get their votes only to see these politicians enriching themselves, and their (the poor’s) plight the same as it was ever before.
The Ombudsman gave us an “eye-opener” seminar: With government pay, no government worker can build a mansion, spend for a second family, travel abroad or buy a luxurious car.
Duterte appeals to the poor because he speaks the language of the poor, identifies himself with the poor and gives hope to the dreams of the poor.
If Duterte wants to really cleanse government of corruption, he may not only run after corrupt government officials but also promise to eradicate the causes of corruption and implement Robredo’s proposed citizens’ financial watchdogs idea. Better would be that all presidentiables promise the latter.
Yes, Jessie Robredo’s wife, Leni, is running for Vice-President, but she is with the party that promised the passage of the law on Freedom of Information but after six years is still promising it. That is what traditional politicians do.
She could do better. She could promise to pursue the plans and beliefs of her husband but she could not do that because it also means the passage of the Freedom of Information Law. But every politician who has something to hide will never agree to that, Daang Matuwid or not.--John Jona Orat