Can't P.Noy take the heat anymore?

During his state visit to Jakarta, Indonesia, Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III struck back at the “unfriendly” Philippine media because of the negative headlines that the 28 newspapers in Metro Manila always present to the Filipino people about his administration. He complained that of his many achievements, the media was interested only in his love life, which gets into the front pages rather than the good news of his administration.

I really don’t know why P.Noy is laundering his dirty linen in a foreign country, but again let me point out to the President that he shouldn’t shoot the messenger just because he got a bad rap. The truths is, the Aquino administration is wracked with gross inefficiency (like sending unruly Taiwanese citizens to China, instead of returning them back to Taipei) incompetence and 200 days after he took the reins of power in Malacañang, he still has no vision for our nation! It’s no wonder the newsmen find his love life more interesting or at least it sells the newspapers.

The problem with P.Noy is that, during the Presidential campaign of the year 2010, he was the “darling” of the media as many journalists fantasized the return of an Aquino back to Malacañang, just after Pres. Cory Aquino died. Hence you can say that P.Noy was a media creation. So in a way, the media spoiled him. But lately, even those rabid pro-P.Noy pundits have been hitting on his administration simply because they have finally realized that indeed, his administration is acting like a student government. They just had a lot of faux pas, which had to be reported in the front pages!

Today, the media seem to be one in chorus in lambasting P.Noy and he takes a swipe back at the media, thinking that attacking the Philippine media from Jakarta won’t be heard by the newsmen back home. P.Noy probably doesn’t know that the media monitor his every move even in Jakarta. So my advice to Pres. Noy is taken from an old American saying, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!” I hope he knows what I mean by this!

Still on the Aquino administration, I got a lot of comments about the bad news that Metro Cebu is getting zero or nothing from the P.Noy administration, while there is a P41 billion being earmarked for infrastructure development in Metro Manila. Many of our friends couldn’t believe that we are not even getting crumbs, we’re simply neglected! But like it or not, we need even to finish the infra projects that were started during the time of GMA.

I was in Danao City yesterday and passed the North Road that links Mandaue City to Consolacion via the Cansaga Bay Bridge. I really don’t know what’s holding the widening of that road. My only hunch is lack of funds. I thought that the Province of Cebu was supposed to undertake this project. It just gets my gall that this delayed project has been stalled.

If there is anything that the Province of Cebu needs to do, it is the immediate widening of that road that links to the Michael Slipway in Liloan. Hopefully, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has a plan to widen this two-lane road into a four or better still, a six-lane road all the way to Danao City. Another noble project that the Province of Cebu embarked years ago seems to have vanished, the so-called backbone highway that traverses in the middle of Cebu Province all the way to Bogo. I just hope that these infra projects would be funded and constructed before the 2013 elections, so at least it can usher more development for Cebu. I know that this project was in the hands of Vice-Gov. Greg Sanchez, but it seems that he has lost interest in pursuing this project.

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I’m really glad that finally, someone in the City of Cebu is following the guidelines set by a memo from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) that the names of politicians should not be displayed on government projects of vehicles. Indeed, seeing the Kaoshiung Bus with life-size photos of former Mayor Tomas Osmeña and the councilors of the Bando-Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) is something that many taxpayers do not like to see simply because these vehicles are not owned by the public officials or their political party, but by the Cebuano constituents. At least the instructions to remove those photos seem to be supported by the BO-PK.

With that issue considered solved, now will Mayor Michael Rama please make sure that all those Cebu City owned buses be properly registered with the Land Transportation Office (LTO)? Last Sunday, I saw one bus on my way to Barili and I shudder to think what would happen if those buses meet an accident. Secondly, City Hall should clearly understand that we have laws governing the use of motor vehicles and therefore, no one is exempted from these laws. Lawmakers shouldn’t be law breakers!

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