Ban-Tal Area: Removing railings is wrong!

Once again the focus of Traffic Management is on the Banilad-Talamban area, where the fence in the middle of the road was removed, which according to my good friend CITOM Chief Jack Jakosalem was done for safety purposes as many motorists have crashed into the railings causing injuries. Sorry Jak, but I totally disagree with your premise. The motorists who hit those railings were mostly drunk drivers. If those railings weren’t there, they would have had a head-on collision with vehicles coming from the side of the road and now we will remove those fences for their safety? No sir!

Those railings were placed there to ensure a proper separation of motorists, but more importantly, it prevented people from crossing the streets anywhere they like because they pose a hazard to motorists. Again let me point out to our readers that the railings had a purpose. If drunken drivers keep hitting those fences especially at night, it is only because they are trying to overtake vehicles or they’re must’ve been driving too fast.

If at all, what those fences really need are reflectorized warning signs, which is almost always absent in government infrastructure. Last Sunday I passed through the Cebu Tunnel and at the entrance of the tunnel was a non-reflectorized sign that warned motorists that the tunnel was only using one-lane. They should have placed visible warning signs a hundred meters earlier warning motorists of the one-lane situation inside the tunnel. But then, we can only sigh and accept that in the Philippines, life is so cheap and government doesn’t really care if you get into an accident because of a serious lack of warning signs.

As for the Ban-Tal traffic experiment, I’m always for doing something different in the hope that such experiences might produce better results. But one thing that CITOM ought to consider is to also put a fence on the side of the Country Mall so that all jeepney that enter their jeepney stop have no choice but to follow the first jeepney that went in. Right now… jeepneys go in and out of that stop, causing more traffic. Let those jeepney drivers get mad at the jeepneys in front of them but not at all motorists. By now CITOM ought to look at the welfare not only of the motorists, most of who come from the upper crust, but also the poor pedestrians who are always in danger of being run over by careless drivers.

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The talk of the town is the recent gruesome killing of Venson Evangelista perpetrated by that alleged mastermind Raymond Dominguez who apparently turned himself in to the Bulacan Provincial Police. What’s being talked about in the coffeehouses is that this fellow Dominguez was allowed to post bail 19 times where he got himself involved in other car thefts. This only proves to you how much our Justice system has failed us.

I’m sure that those people who filed cases against Mr. Dominguez must have raised hell about his being able to post bail of P100,000 to P180,000 which is peanuts if you are selling a Toyota Land Cruiser. Now how could Mr. Dominguez get away with almost anything, while a poor man more often than not could ill-afford to pay bail? But 19 times?

Like I said, this is a massive failure in our Justice system and hopefully Congress would rectify this perhaps through some kind of law that would put a cap at the number of bail that should be allowed on suspects. I would like to believe that Dominguez is involved in a mafia-style syndicate which could have LTO officials, prosecutors or judges in their payroll. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) should unmask this syndicate so it would be a warning to other crime syndicates that their days are numbered.

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How time flies indeed. The Ayala Center Cebu is now on its 16th year. Yesterday, Ayala officials led by Mr. Antonio Aquino, Chairman of the Board of the Cebu Holdings, Inc. (CHI), CHI Pres. Francis Monera, and our friends Joy Follosco and Clavel Tongko held a presscon prior to the groundbreaking ceremonies for planned expansion that would finally complete the circular design of the Ayala Center. It would serve as the “centerpiece” of the mixed-use development which fits the masterplan of the Cebu Business Park. This area is beside the Marriott Hotel and is scheduled to be completed in the year 2013, which would add 36,000 sq. mtrs of leasable space in the Ayala Center shopping mall.

I understand from Mr. Aquino that this section would be an upscale retail development area, which would bring luxury brands to Cebu and Rustans will be its anchor store. This section will be environmentally friendly having water recycled from wastewater for the use of toilets and landscaping.

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