Futurist visions and Filipiniana

Among the 10 Superbridges of the New Philippines is not a single railway bridge. Instead of charging 100 containers onto one train Filipinos prefer 100 trucks creeping along narrow, curved, potholed and landslide-prone city roads polluting them with noise and exhaust fumes. This is no longer acceptable.

The Pan-Philippine Highway from Laoag down the 3,517 kilometers to Zamboanga must be upgraded into an autobahn bypassing the cities, the Edsa in particular. Much money will be needed for road right of way financing.

Instead of building the superfluous Trans-Manila Bay Crossing from Naic, Cavite over Corregidor Island with an under-sea mega-tunnel to Mariveles, Bataan, that money should be invested in two tunnels between Sorsogon and Samar and Leyte and Mindanao.

Cities are connected by exit and access links. The average speed on super-hIghways is 120 kilometer per hour for cars and 80 km/h for trucks provided that the drivers keep a distance from the car in front of 60 meters and 40 m respectively. If no car inserts in front of another and slow vehicles drive right and overtaking takes place exclusively on the left, then traffic will flow smoothly, driving will be relaxed and risk of collision reduced to a minimum.

Bullet trains are another caliber. Road distance between Lingayen City and Tacloban today is between 872 and 948 km. A Shinkansen traveling at 300 km/h makes it in three hours.

I chose Tacloban (Leyte) because it lies in the center of the archipelago. That makes it suitable for becoming the capital of the New Philippines.

Since in the Federal Republic of the Philippines the executive will sit in front of the legislators (being checked and balanced by them and hopefully also cooperating) a new parliament building is necessary. It should be built either in Leyte or Samar. No government official will have a subterfuge for being late or absent, since those trains are punctual to the second.

A daring prospect? Filipinos, think big! With corruption and drug abuse reduced you have the money to build a grandiose capital depicting history and patriotism.

The Brazilians in 1960 built their new ultra-modern capital Brasilia into the midst of the jungle. (Patterned after that name, why not call the Federal Capital Filipinia?) The Indonesians built their large-scale government center around the Monas (National Monument).

In narrow, flood and earthquake prone, traffic-monstrous Manila there is no room for futurist visions.--

Erich Wannemacher, a German expat residing in Lapu-Lapu City Now it’s Talisay traffic

I am a daily commuter from Naga to Cebu City and back and have observed that traffic in Minglanilla has improved. Now the problem is in Talisay, especially in the early morning near the school in Lawaan.

Vehicles going to that school or leaving that school cause slow traffic.--

Teresa Macanas, Naga City