We should enact laws that can be enforced

If there is anything that my good friend Provincial Board member Arleigh Sitoy must learn from the Cebu City Council it is not to enact laws that cannot be enforced. There is no question about the nobility of purpose in enacting laws that prohibit the use of mobile phones and other gadgets while driving, but the question is, is this law enforceable? I don’t recall when the City of Cebu enacted a similar ordinance, but what I do recall is that despite earnest efforts, I do not know of any motorist who have been apprehended for using his or her cellphone while driving.

I fully concur that using cellphones and other gadgets while driving distracts a driver from his focus on the road. But the bottomline is that, if this law is unenforceable in Cebu City where we have many traffic enforcers, how much more for the Province of Cebu where we could hardly see traffic enforcers or even a policeman?

One of the principal problems that CITOM could not enforce this law is the reality that most vehicles have dark tints. It’s difficult to ascertain what the driver is doing inside the car. This is the same reason why CITOM enforcers also have a great difficulty in apprehending drivers that do not use seatbelts.

There are also several violators especially those using motorcycles that overload them with more than one passenger (motorcycles only have a foot peg for a single passenger) and yet this obvious traffic problem is violated with impunity simply because motorists aren’t scared that they would be apprehended by the police. Overloading either by jeepney, buses or motorcycles are done everyday and apparently nothing is being done about this, when this violation is so visible to traffic cops.

Many habal-habal drivers, including women who ride mopeds or motorized bikes also text while riding their two-wheelers, which is even more dangerous. Someday Cebu would have the right number of policemen for our population and only then can we see our laws truly enforced. As it is, we have enough of laws that cannot be enforced.

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I read a page 2 report from a local daily yesterday headlined “Diaz says sorry to Cebuanos for ‘slur’.” But reading that story made me ask, “Did Ms. Gloria Diaz really apologize to Cebuanos for the insult when she practically said that Cebuanos do not know how to speak in English?” I don’t think so. What Ms. Diaz merely pointed out was that she was sorry that she was misinterpreted according to that ABS-CBN tv interview. Hence in my book, she really did not make any apology for that grave insult; rather, she was merely sorry that her statement was taken out of context, which in my book is no apology at all!

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I fully concur with The FREEMAN’s editorial yesterday entitled, “Responsibility cannot be 11 days late” after no less than Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III himself assumed full responsibility for the botched rescue attempt last Aug.23. Because finally after 11 days, the President made that admission, as if on cue Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Jesus Verzosa also admitted his accountability for the failure of the police to resolve the hostage situation. Hmmm... Suddenly, everyone is on the “admitting the responsibility” mode yet no one has the delicadeza to resign from their post in shame?

Meanwhile the Department of Justice (DoJ) investigating body is getting so busy in interviewing those who were supposed to be responsible for that botched operation, yet it still surprises a lot of people why Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo is in that investigative body when he himself should be investigated?

We would like to emphasize that the whole world watched as Filipino cops entertained the world viewers on how keystone cops would attempt a rescue on foreign hostages. I’m sure that the whole world - not just Hong Kong - who saw that embarrassing incident would be anxiously awaiting the results of the DoJ investigation and eagerly wait for what Pres. Aquino would do to those responsible. I just hope, for our country’s sake, P.Noy would do the right thing.

Incidentally, if there’s anything good happening in Manila today, it’s the presence of the Super Carrier USS George Washington is in Manila Bay for rest and recreation. That’s a complement of 5,000 men and women in uniform who would see the sights of Manila at a time when many tourists are staying away from Manila, thanks to that botched hostage crisis.

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