Pacman to retire for a life of politics? Hmmm!

I have always known that Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao would win his “rumble” with Oscar dela Hoya at the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas last Sunday. Now whether he’ll hang his gloves next year for a life in politics is something we have to see. For this fight, Pacman earned for himself U$11 million dollars. If you ask me, this is a very honest way of earning a living.

If Pacman will quit for the sake of politics, which is known in this country for corruption, Pacman might lose whatever respect he has gained from his boxing career not just from his Filipino fans, but his fans worldwide. So Pacman better think this twice! Lest he has forgotten, Pacman won his fights because of sheer will and determination. But he must also know that the problem of our politicians today is sheer lack of political will! They always say that they lack funds, when the truth is, they lack the will. The problem really is our politicos have forgotten that old adage, “Where there is a will, there is a way!”

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Early Sunday dawn, half of the road along the corner of Escario St. and Juaña Osmeña Ext. collapsed due to erosion from an on-going construction at what used to be the Tanchan motor shop. The traffic signal that used to stand along the sidewalk of Escario St. literally vanished into the sinkhole. This incident means that a major road in Cebu City would be experiencing huge traffic problems until the collapsed areas are restored. With traffic so heavy because of the Christmas shopping, I’d like to advise motorists to avoid using Escario St. in the meantime.

If there’s any real problem with the growth of Cebu City, it is that the Planning Office under our good friend, Engineer Nigel Paul Villarete has yet to come up with arterial road links in between major roads. For instance, between Mango Ave. and the Ramos Supermarket, there is V. Ranudo St. that motorists can use. But between Mango Ave. and Escario St. there are no roads that motorist can use in-between. There used to be a road behind the Redemptorist Church, but it was a private road and the owners refused to open it to the public. If that road was opened, then it would have reduced the traffic congestion along Escario St.

To solve that problem, I proposed during my stint at the Regional Development Council (RDC-7) to link V. Rama along Guadalupe with a parallel road passing by the Guadalupe River and the Lahug Creek to exit towards Gorordo Ave. passing through the University of the Philippines (UP) campus. This was adopted by then Mayor Alvin Garcia, who tried to open the road via piecemeal. Opening this road would have given Bo. Camputhaw residents an exit road at the back of their barangay. But this was opposed.

When left the RDC, this road project was supposed to be prioritized. Unfortunately, our political leadership had other plans and soon this P400 million road project was scrapped! This is why the Philippines, yes even in Cebu isn’t moving forward simply because there is no proper urban planning where urban planners are given wide space to plan or map out how the city ought to develop. In the end, all infrastructure projects are done by elected politicians who are not urban planners.

Three weeks ago, we were in Taipei and saw with our eyes that every time there are high-rise buildings, certain spaces are always allocated as mini-parks for children. Let’s ask ourselves, when was the last park for children funded by a Congressman or even adopted by a Barangay? I can be wrong, but in recent memory, I cannot recall of any, except the Talamban Family Park built by Rep. Raul del Mar for Cebu City’s North District. But that park is too large and too far for toddlers to drop by.

The whole trouble is that, our politicians want to construct basketball courts because Filipinos are basketball aficionados. But no parks for toddlers? If there was anything that I learned from former Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa is that, government should have more infrastructure for those who have less in roads. This is a similar doctrine that earned the late President Ramon Magsaysay Sr. as the most beloved President of this country. “To give more law to those who have less in life”.

Following the Magsaysay doctrine, it would mean that there should be more roads for the bicycles of the underprivileged class or wider sidewalks for them to use and yes, parks and playgrounds as they cannot afford to go to beach resorts like the rich do. Yet all our politicians swear to help and uphold the dignity of the poor Filipino, yet he spends more public funds giving more roads to people who can afford to buy cars than for parks for the people who need them the most. This is why I’ve always said that something is very wrong with Philippine politics and it is time for change!