EDITORIAL - If you've nothing to say, don't say it

Now that the election season is starting to really get interesting, and people are sitting up in rapt attention for everything that is spoken or done by all the political hopefuls, perhaps it would be best for all of the latter to be a little more circumspect and tactful.

A fine example of saying something that could boomerang against the sayer for being so inane is what Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama just said about the problem of fighting fires in areas accessible only by very narrow roads.

Logically, the best way to address the problem of narrow roads is to widen them. But to widen them is to affect the lives of people living in dwellings that may have to give way to such widening.

There is no surer way to lose votes than to evict people from where they live. In other words, road widenings, where they involve tearing down houses, are a big no-no in election time. So Rama thought of the next best thing, or so he thought.

The mayor suggested the acquisition of tricycles equipped with water tanks and hoses to act like mini firetrucks. The mayor plans to throw these “firecycles” into action in areas where there are only narrow roads.

The plan is, of course, a big ha ha. Areas with narrow roads are usually very congested areas. From experience, even if firetrucks can gain access into these areas, the sheer number of people running to and from can overwhelm and obstruct these firetrucks.

It leaves little to the imagination what thousands of highly agitated people can do to a small contraption like a tricycle trying to chug along with a heavy load of water in a tank made heavier still by a roll of hoses and the motor necessary to pump up the water.

This is the most ridiculous joke about fire fighting if anyone has ever heard one. But since the good mayor brought it up, it might do well to ask a few questions, such as how much water can a tank-bearing tricycle bear.

Next question: How long will it be before the water runs out — two minutes? And how long will it take for the tricycle to get to where it can replenish its two-minute load and come back? If Mayor Rama has nothing to say, he better not say it.