Filipinos were relieved to hear President Rodrigo Duterte call on the Department of the Interior and Local Government to order mayors across the country to clear roads and highways of obstructions. In an effort to comply by the order, mayors depends on barangay officials to follow the order (it also allows for city officials to make the president the scapegoat for the implementation).
The situation reminds me of Marikina City first district Rep. Bayani Fernando, who previous served as city mayor and chair of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, and was invited by Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia over two decades ago. I was with Fernando when he addressed mayors from across Negros Occidental at the L’Fisher Hotel, where he said: “Huwag kayong matakot na ipa tupad ang batas. Hindo kayo mawawalan nang boto, lalong madadagdagan ang inyong boto.”
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An engineer asked, “Why are there still too many illegal structures in many parts of Bacolod?” A golfer replied, “It seems there is no strict order from the mayor [for the] speedy enforcement of the president’s order.”
“The serious problem is barangay leaders will not get the axe, but city leadership—,” they added.
“In Bacolod, we see untouched illegal structures in [the] Magsungay area; [along] Sta. Ana Street, at the back of the Ng Sambok Ceres terminal, where there are so many houses untouched by the barangay for whatever reason; furniture shop owners are still hard-headed in Lopez Jaena,” noted a coffee enthusiast. “Barangay leaders are not to blame, [it is] the city officials who closed their eyes for fear of losing votes.”
“Barangay leaders are confident that, after the president’s order, they will be free to continue their disobedience of the law,” a golfer from Davao said. “That is why this country will never progress—most Filipinos are violators and arrogant.”
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A businessman from Davao recently toured Bacolod City and remarked on the traffic by noting: “It is all [experimental] and [nobody] is sure what is best to be done. That shows the incompetence of those in the ‘traffic works.’”
I understand the road safety management process, it was taught to me personally by Fernando—a close friend. However, I am not inspired by the current administration and have chosen to share my knowledge with places where it is welcome. I was a member of the Bacolod Traffic Study Group (TSG) nearly three decades ago—before there was a Bacolod Traffic Authority Office—and the organization was effective in planning then-experiments that became law; that group knew what was best.
Today, Bacolod City continued to suffer from the existence of undisciplined drivers because there is no enforcement of traffic laws. Traffic authority officials are not be seen doing their job (or perhaps waiting for orders on what job to do). Just the other week, former Marikina City Mayor Marides C. Fernando, the congressman’s wife, was in Bacolod City and noticed (without commenting) the piles of garbage and the illegal structures remain in the city.
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This column greets Charles Lee, Jemma Zafra, Wilson Tan, Johnny Dubouzet, Mimir Guanco, Danny Dangcalan, Rodel Parcon, Sammy Montoyo, Stephen Alquiza, Chad Zayco, Rey Balaan, Roel Venus, Joey Trayco, Mafe Barcelo, Felipe Lacson, Doc Chris Sorongon, and Paolo Araneta/WDJ