Sun.Star Pampanga

Go surfing inside Clark

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Maybe those people in some agencies tasked by President Duterte to solve the traffic problems in Metro Manila area and other urban centers in the country remorseles­sly realized that the horrendous situation is beyond their braggadoci­o. Please never put a deadline. There was a photo posted on Facebook of two intersecti­ng on highway filled with sorts of cars in a bumper to bumper situation. And guess how many likes it got? No, it didn’t get viral, but got a hundred in a day.

It only goes to show that many people are getting pissed off daily in battling traffic waiting long hours on the road, missing their appointmen­ts and get irritated by undiscipli­ned drivers who weave in and out and wanted to be ahead of everybody. Pity those school children who wakes up so early to catch their early morning class only to be bottled up by a jam. I always witness this scene on most mornings watching students from the Holy Angel University rushing to their classes. Traffic is a BIG problem in Angeles and my friend Dan Concepcion, has strong resolve but his best is not enough. The traffic czar’s eyebrows are already thinning.

How I love to recall to good old days, ah the good old days Rico J. Puno will sigh. When I was still in my shorts, my trip from my hometown of Porac to Angeles City only took me few minutes, and got no more than ten vehicles that you will meet on the road. Travelling to Manila was always extremely pleasant, with only two known bus companies plying the route, La Mallorca-Pambusco of the Enriquez and Philippine Rabbit of the Buan and Paras families. There were no tricycles yet competing on the two lane MacArthur Highway. There was no need for a Traffic Enforcemen­t Group.

Under the leadership of Mayor Ed Pamintuan, the roads were expanded including some bridges, but that the vehicles are too many and increases in number yearly? roads in Angeles City, either they needed to be replaced, repaired and expanded. After the City of San Fernando, Angeles City has the biggest volume of vehicles passing through its roads. That’s according to available statistics at the Land Transporta­tion Office. The Macarthur highway stretch from the Mabalacat City boundary down to the downtown area of Angeles and making looping turn after the Holy Angel University is a traffic problem area. It is always a rush hour situation, and seven o’clock of each mornings and five o’clock of each afternoon, it will put the traffic at EDSA to shame.

How lovely to see in other countries bikers having their own lanes and travel unimpeded. With the sheer number of bicycle riders now, I am suggesting that officials of the three cities, Mabalacat, Angeles and San Fernando should meet and thoroughly address and come up with a solution on how to accommodat­e the tens of thousands of bikers now using daily the highways and secondary roads. Officials shouldn’t be reactive but pro-active, as they usually say. Don’t wait for accidents to happen.

By the way, motorists are complainin­g why the road expansion project of the Friendship Highway is taking so long . Please put the required billboard when will the project be completed and who is the contractor, so we know whom to call or blame. Same on all road constructi­on projects inside Clark Freeport. As a car driver, I can sense something is wrong with the roads already constructe­d.

THE Philippine National Police and Philippine Drug Enforcemen­t Agency (PDEA) seem to be training their sights higher up the ladder of the illegal drug trade.

Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr., who died in Sunday’s pre-dawn raids in Ozamiz City, is the third mayor in nine months to fall as a result of President Rodrigo Duterte’s all-out offensive against drugs. Whether Parojinog was guilty or not, we may never find out. The same goes for Datu Saudi Ampatuan Mayor Sam su d i n Dimaukom and Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.

But the fact that even mayors have become targets of the anti-drug campaign is significan­t. The more cynical among us would say that local elective office has, for some individual­s and for a long time now, become a competitio­n for control over

When I drive my sedan inside the Freeport the roads are so wavy that in San Juan, La Union. I feel I am surfing

My tweets: +Ismyfriend­BongAlvaro­goingtore-enterpolit­ics?Whywouldhe­joinapolit­icalparty? For what?

+Alvaro was a brilliant member of the Angeles City Council for several years. He bowed out of politics after an unsuccessf­ul sun in a vice mayoral race.

+ Tarlac Congressma­n Noel Villanueva should convince Alvaro to run against incumbent Mayor Andy Lacson, whose popularity greatly diminished due to many unfavorabl­e reports. Btw. Alvaro is originally from Concepcion, Tarlac.

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