Do you know the way to anywhere here

Just got back from a four-day break in Baguio, taking advantage of the last few days of my two daughters' summer break. At my age and with my son now a green card holder in Los Angeles, you can't imagine how I now look forward to these mini breaks with my family. By next year, it will be my second kid's turn to go and we will be left with just one at home for maybe, a couple more years.

Being away with family for a few days was the only attraction of going up to Baguio. The City of Pines has long lost its allure for me. Its air smells of diesel, rather than pine. Garbage is everywhere. The only places where one feels restful are the country club and John Hay golf courses, where you could still see pine trees and remember the Baguio of old. Today, Baguio has become as ugly as Metro Manila, a far cry from the Baguio I first visited as a young boy.

I still remember that first trip well. My Dad took me on a real treat of a train ride to Damortis, La Union and then by car up the zig-zag of Kennon Road where a number of waterfalls were sights to behold. I still remember the hotel we stayed in, Casa Vallejo, just below the site where Pines Hotel used to be. It had character. It is still there now, looking tired, old and decrepit.

Since then, I had twice been marooned by typhoons in Baguio, once while attending an advertising congress at Pines Hotel and the second time after I addressed a corporate journalism workshop of San Miguel Corp. at the now ghost of a Hyatt Terraces Hotel. Both times, landslides on the zig-zag road forced me to stay in Baguio longer than planned.

When I was with PNOC, I made it a point to go to Baguio in October or February, when the weather was coolest and the competition for the use of the corporate guesthouse was less severe. My kids were then no more than eight years old and it was fun to take them to the sites and experience typical Baguio vacations, warm sweaters and all.

The last time I was in Baguio was two years ago, and I didn't know until the last minute that I would be able to make it this time. There's just so much to do. Even as I enjoy the drive up, I took a driver along this time because I fully intended to be a bum. Besides, I had no inclination to do things like changing flat tires, should the need arise.

But the driver I took along is basically a Manila city driver who was last in Baguio in 1995. I didn't dare sleep, fearful he could very well miss a fork or a turn because our highway signage system is notoriously deficient, if it exists at all.

The expressway is no problem. But once you leave the expressway, you are on your own. You could take the wrong fork in Tarlac City and end up in Camiling, my mother's hometown. Trying to get to Marcos Highway from Agoo town proper can also be tricky because vines and flowers cover the sign that directs you to turn right to Marcos Highway.

On the way back to Manila, you can also miss the entrance to the expressway because some vandal painted over the sign that points to a small side street and says "To Manila." Actually, if it were not for Pepsi Cola, you wouldn't know where to turn. Pepsi's signs announce the towns and barangays along the MacArthur Highway.

Why can't the DPWH and the Department of Tourism cooperate on a project that will place the proper signs to guide travelers and make our highways more user friendly? The proper signs in the accepted international format (as in the expressway) should be put up. There are signs alright along the Marcos Highway but they are so small, a motorist will hit a tree or fall off the road if he tried to read them.

The DPWH should also remove old traffic advisories from the highway because they confuse motorists. Actually, there are too many signs, mostly advertising related, along our highways that confuse motorists.

There ought to be a more serious consideration by the DPWH and the DOT of the importance of proper signs, if only so that people will know the way to anywhere in this country. Right now, it is bahala na and every man for himself. So very Filipino!

But I want to end on a positive note. The work done by DPWH to weather-proof Marcos Highway is simply superb. See… they can do a good job if they only try. I won't even ask about possible overpricing, so long as the resulting highway is first class, as it seems it is. The Marcos Highway is so good, we should think of re-naming it for some Cordillera hero rather than for the national heel who bled this country dry and suppressed our democracy.

PLDT and Gokongwei

Okay, so the members of the local management team have had their fun in the recently concluded stockholders meeting. At the end of the day, all the legal maneuvers in the world will most likely be overwhelmed by a superior legal maneuver.

For instance, the Gokongweis can enter into a deal wherein they buy the Salims out of First Pacific itself, so that so far as the Philippine subsidiaries are concerned, there is no change, no right of first refusal to worry about. JG Summit will end up with Indo Foods, but that will be a welcome bonus. Remember that the Gokongweis are tops in food manufacturing and they could run Indo Foods better than the Salims, so they wouldn't mind getting control of it.

The Salims want to liquidate their investments and no one has the right to stop them, except possibly government if it feels that the deal will bring back a de facto monopoly in telecoms. But the local management team has no right to stop the Salims from carrying out a decision to get some of their money back. The only real way they can stop Gokongwei is to make the Salims a superior offer. Only NTT can do that now. I guess, even Manny P knows that.

Actually, my heart cries for Manny P. He has done pretty well in the short time he led PLDT. The Gokongweis should offer to keep him, if only to keep up the momentum and assure the local troops that they will not experience a disruptive kind of change. I am sure the Gokongweis know that if PLDT's restive staff plays hard to get, the hundreds of millions of dollars they invested may be in jeopardy.

For now, there is no reason for the ordinary workers and even executives of PLDT to worry about a Gokongwei takeover. If they are any good, the Gokongweis will be foolish to let them go. If they were political left overs from the Cojuangco days, then they are better off trying to get a golden handshake now via a voluntary retirement package. One thing with the Gokongweis, everyone who earns a salary from them must always prove their worth. That's not so bad an idea, anyway.

MMDA

There should be only one name in the list to replace Ben Abalos at MMDA. That's Bayani Fernando. And if you want to know why, just look at Marikina today.

Service fee

Dr. Ernie E comes alive with this one.

The woman seated herself in the psychiatrist’s office. "What seems to be the problem?" the doctor asked.

"Well, I, uh," she stammered. "I think I, uh, might be a nymphomaniac."

"I see," he said. "I can help you, but I must advise you that my fee is $80 an hour."

"That’s not bad," she replied. "How much for all night?"

(Boo Chanco's e-mail address is [email protected])