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PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has predicted that Metro Manila will soon become a dead city in a few years time. He said that they should close the capital region of the Philippines and rather develop other provinces which are more conducive for development.

The said statement of the president seems to be true. Metro Manila has reached its age and that it is time to decongest it and place its occupants, businesses and industries alike to some places in the country.

I recalled one time when I had the opportunity to study college in Manila. Aside from being away from my family, I weighed-in things including the disadvantages of pursuing studies in the National Capital Region vis-à-vis with studying in my home province.

I solicited pieces of advice from friends on staying in Metro Manila or in the province where I can also have my tertiary education. Most of my peers told me to stay in Pampanga rather than in the country’s capital metropolis due to many reasons. As I was pondering, I realized that there are indeed wide gamuts of reasons to stay in Pampanga.

Traffic Metro Manila is said to be the traffic capital of country with the famous Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) earning the tag as the biggest parking lot in the whole world because of the number of vehicles stuck in everyday heavy traffic. Economists would say that we are losing billions of pesos due to traffic gridlocks and snarls in Metro Manila alone.

Pollution We need not perhaps contest whether Metro Manila is clean or otherwise, this as we see how filthy are the roads, streets and alleys in the cities of the Metro Manila. Tons and tons of garbage are generated everyday easily making us think of Payatas, Smoky Mountain among others.

Flooding Since Metro Manila is a top garbagegenerator, we can expect of its dirty sewers and esteros. These waterways often get clogged during heavy rains resulting into floods.

There are other places in the country that gets flooded too but it’s different when trash floats on floodwaters just like in the various parts of the capital region. Crime Sadly, criminal activities do happen every day in Metro Manila.

Recently, there are not much high-profile cases except on the alleged extra-judicial killings that hugged the limelight for the past months. Aside from these, there are the usual snatching, hold-ups, theft and robbery and other index and non-index crimes. As a consolation, it is said that the police records no crime when Senator Manny Pacquiao is on the ring fighting his opponent. I would not say that all these are not present in other places in the country.

However, we are talking of extra ordinary volume and number when are pointing out Metro Manila. With all these, we cannot blame perhaps the president for saying that the country’s capital region is on a state of decay. Decongest Metro Manila now.

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