EDSA another day, another way
THERE will be the annual paean on the 30th anniversary of EDSA People Power; and we hope it will be an appropriate commemoration of a stirring event which inspired others like the Czech Velvet Revolution and the Fall of Berlin Wall.
When Francis Tolentino told editors at Manila Bulletin round-table that we need another EDSA, he wasn’t asking for EDSA Tres. He was referring to his stillborn plans as former MMDA chairman for a 14-km “Metro Manila skybridge” over the San Juan River to decongest EDSA for motorists from QC to Makati, the nation’s capital district.
Motorcars jumped up from 1.7 million to 2.4 million in 6 years (and continue to grow exponentially at over 300,000 annually, without any vehicle going to La Loma).
If elected senator, Tolentino will propose laws to build appropriate arteries and require sufficient measures against road congestion. (We have a 1950’s law which does not allow a motorcar registration unless the owner has a garage; but that ordinance is buried deep in oblivion.)
At the “Mongolian Barbecue” program, when Mr. Shooli (aka Jun Urbano) had Fr. James B. Reuter, SJ as guest, the Jesuit father spoke for the poorest of the poor -- the “bridge people” who live under desperate conditions under the bridges and in condemned buildings (with some children falling into the cracks). At the end of the Jesuit father’s moving narrative, Mr. Shooli empathized strongly, “Yes, Father, government must do more for these bridge people. Government must build more bridges!”
Mr Shooli knows that bridges are not for living in, and it is roof over the heads that the poor need…and proximity to jobs.
Likewise, we do not need a Los Angeles solution in our developing country: More skyways encourage more cars. What we need is better, more efficient, and more frequent run of mass transit system. The 20-minute intervals are why we have kilometric queues snaking to the ticket counters.
A mass transit system is still be the best facility for everyone; and this is possibly where CCT should go because it can be availed of by many and is not subject to abuse since nobody takes the MRT/LRT unless he/she needs to get from one place to another.
HEIRS OF PEOPLE POWER? At the first-ever debate of presidential candidates at Cagayan de Oro last Sunday, 21 February, VP Jejomar Binay did as he promised - to tell the truth. (But because of time constraint, he wasn’t able to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.)
VP tangled with Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, who said that antidynasty does not need a definition and it is in the Constitution.
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte made an informal alliance with Miriam, when he said that only the two of them deserved to be president. He said that in six months, he would solve our problems with drugs, criminality, and corruption.
Senator Grace Poe deflected Secretary Mar Roxas’ insinuation of OJT, answering that jaded old pols do not solve the same problems with repeat through the years.
Secretary Mar Roxas wants the job to continue daang matuwid and more, because he wants to give the same opportunity in life for others.
The Queensberry rules did not enable much fireworks in the presidential debate. (A spark perhaps, when Roxas challenged Binay’s claim of no drug problem in Makati.) Only Duterte, who was just warming up, was aching for an extension of the program.
Who won the first leg of the match? Philippine Inquirer and GMA7, which hosted the first of three engagements. GMA7 must have recovered the viewers that it was losing to AlDub. (Even if the presidentiables only touched gloves, which they may shed off in subsequent meetings in Cebu and Metro Manila).
Philippine Star and TV5 will moderate the second presidential debate in Cebu on March 20. Manila Bulletin and ABS-CBN will take care of the last debate in Metro Manila on April 24.
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