Killer road

Teenage star AJ Perez died along McArthur Highway somewhere in Northern Tarlac yesterday (April 17). The accident involved a bus, truck and a van where AJ was a passenger. Through this stretch of a narrow, obviously overcrowded two-lane (!) highway in PNoy’s home province, the entire vehicular traffic (includes heavy trucks, buses) going to Baguio, the Ilocos and Pangasinan passes. Moreover, part of the traffic to/from Western Pangasinan is diverted to Bayambang instead of Camiling in Western Tarlac because of the weakened and inadequately repaired Camiling Bridge. Also and sad to recall, the four-lane SCTEX was extended only last year and only up to Tarlac City after the last extension of the NLEX to Mabalacat, Pampanga in the early 1990’s — or around a 20-year delay!

This stretch of a relatively constricted or narrow road in Tarlac and Pangasinan has also claimed the lives of Mayor Bueno of Baguio, Mayor Sembrano of Gerona, Vandolph’s girlfriend, also the father of a friend of ours who worked at Northern Cement in Sison, Pangasinan, and many others. It also almost killed Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago in Moncada. If the authorities were only up to schedule, the four-lane SCTEX/NLEX would now be in place in Barangay Saitan, Rosario, La Union at the foot of the mountains leading to Baguio.

That, we believe, could have saved poor AJ’s life! How many more victims will suffer because of this narrow and overcrowded killer road!