Trisikads pose a danger to our Asean guests!

The worldwide commemoration of the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 bombing went without any bombing around the world. Perhaps the only huge explosion that happened on that day was the Mandaue City blast that killed two people, a blast caused by a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) tank sloppily handled by an ill-trained employee. Simply put, it was a calamity rather than an act of terror. But if you looked at the damage it brought to the building, it looked like a terror bomb hit it. In truth, that's because terrorists use basic or common ingredients to make a bomb.

A day after 9/11, terrorists tried to bomb the US Embassy in Damascus, Syria, but were thwarted by alert Syrian guards who ended up killing the suicide bombers before they could trigger their lethal cargo inside a van. One Syrian guard was also killed in the ensuing melee. The BBC video footage showed one of the bombs used was an LPG tank strapped with dynamite around it. It's really that simple.

This brings us to the question whether sellers of LPG tanks have a master list and the location of their customers. If you ask me, this is the job of the intelligence units of the Philippine National Police (PNP) or the Military Intelligence Group (MIG) not to make a bureaucracy in buying an LPG tank, but rather for the sellers to make reports as to who their customers are. For sure, with security at our airports getting tighter, foreign terrorists or Jihadists who may come to our shores would end up using local materials for the bombs they would make and use here.

So please don't say that we didn't warn you. LPG tank sellers or operators should be thoroughly checked, especially the location of the owners of LPG tanks. Who knows, someone might just be buying LPG tanks more than what he needs! What about those who manufacture firecrackers in Mactan or Talisay? If you ask me, our Intel services should conduct surveillance as to who are buying firecrackers from them as these explosives could easily be turned into dynamite for the mischief of terrorists.

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Early Tuesday night, I was driving from Mactan to Cebu City via the Mandaue Reclamation within sight of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) when the car in front of me suddenly swerved to avoid hitting a trisikad! Suddenly my thoughts raced to the 12th ASEAN Summit. How embarrassing it would be if one of the luxury cars bringing an ASEAN leader would hit a trisikad? It would be an embarrassing event!

Here we are, trying to spruce up Metro Cebu, cleaning it more than our usual way just to put our foot forward, yet we still allow contraptions like trisikads to ply our streets bringing passengers in the most dangerous contraptions using our national highways! Mind you, a lot of these trisikad drivers are underage (that means we allow child labor) and have no idea of simple traffic rules and yes, they've always been a threat to our safety!

I already wrote about this so many times, warning the City of Cebu and Mandaue that trisikads should be stopped from using the national roads, especially the roads linking Metro Cebu to the Mactan International Airport. But somehow, our mayors still lacks the political will to get rid of these pesky trisikads, which should never be part and parcel of the transportation system of a modern metropolis like Metro Cebu!

During my day as chairman of CITOM, trisikads were always a problem because even if they have been caught time and time again, they still claim their trisikad. Back then, I asked the Cebu City Council to enact a law that would confiscate the sidecar if it was already caught and impounded three times. That would have put a stop to this nonsense. Alas, the Cebu City Council did not care to look into this problem of recidivism!

Our foreign guests might just think that we really don't care about the safety of our commuters because we allow them to ride on contraptions that have zero safety devices, not even lighting to warn motorists they on the road!

One time, our beloved eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal told me about his stand in helping the trisikad because they are the poor. In answer, I told the Cardinal that he was only being helpful to those who have less in life; however, the poor should not be allowed to operate any public transportation that is a threat to the safety of its passengers. What if a trisikad operator caused a traffic accident resulting in the death of a passenger? Who would be made to pay for the reckless imprudence in this case? It was then that the Cardinal realized that he should help the poor in some other way.

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit's columns can also be accessed at www.shootinginsidecebu.blogspot.com