Unfortunately, Filipinos do not read much
I fully agree that while there is a road construction along Natalio Bacalso Avenue in Barangay Mambaling that public utility vehicles should be allowed to use the road at the South Road Properties, which should reduce the traffic congestion. But what is needed is for the Cebu City Transportation Office to closely monitor these PUVs that they do not stop to pick up passengers and more importantly, these PUVs should be given a thorough check before being allowed in the SRP because these PUVs are not used to running at higher speeds, compared to the stop and go traffic that they have been used to.
While they are at it, CCTO enforcers should also closely monitor and stop slow-moving vehicles that use the leftmost lane, which are for fast or overtaking vehicles. Every time I pass SRP, I always noticed that trucks and buses use the leftmost lane, which is totally wrong. In fact I have already written many times before that at the entrance of the SRP, CCTO should put signs declaring that trucks, buses, and slow-moving vehicles should use the rightmost lane, while faster vehicles should use the leftmost lane. When I refer to slow-moving vehicles, I'm referring to many multicabs whose drivers often use the leftmost lane.
But while we are doing this to ease traffic congestion in Natalio Bacalso Avenue, it must be said that many times in the week, the SRP road is also just as congested, and one solution is for CCTO to sit down with their counterparts in Talisay City. This coordination is necessary to put some sanity in our traffic problems in the Metro Cebu area.
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There is so much ado about Sen. Richard "Dick" Gordon and Sen. Risa Hontiveros making a pledge to support Cebu City's Rizal Public Library. What can we say, but it is the first time that Cebu City finally got its act together to make our city library a 24/7 affair. According to Mayor Tomas Osmeña, they will be renovating the library, putting in Wi-Fi internet connection and more books. More importantly, using the library is free of charge for Cebuanos.
This should be good news for students who want to study, but do not have the luxury of having a home with a real place to study. But there's just too much hoopla in Cebu City's boasting that the Rizal Public Library is now open 24/7, yet it still lacks so many facilities that a library should have. I dare say that Cebu City should work hard this summer while students are on vacation to fix and bring the Rizal Library up to speed.
If there is anything I know about our Cebuano students, they are not the reading kind. I have been to many cities in ASEAN, and in Bangkok for instance, whenever I visit a bookstore, it is crawling with people who literally crowd the spaces between books. The same is true with Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon) City where bookstores or libraries are filled to the brim with students studying. The last time I visited Taipei, Taiwan, I saw their bookstores full of people, which gives you an idea that many students in ASEAN love to read books, but not Filipinos.
I'm blessed that my third grandchild, Jenna, is already a bookworm at the age of eight, which is rare for Filipinos. But at this point, we must support the efforts of Cebu City to make the Rizal Library of good use to our students. But more than books, Cebu City must put in state-of-the-art computers because, for instance, the US Library of Congress can be accessed by anyone who wants to read any book about the United States.
It is a fact that the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) donated many computers to our public schools because a single computer connected to the internet can allow anyone to have a peek at all the books or other educational materials that are offered free on the worldwide web. Our children, especially the millennials who are not scared to use computers, have a great advantage over those students who have not used a computer. This is something that the Department of Education must push.
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