Today, Pope Benedict XVI becomes Pope Emeritus

Traffic, traffic and more bad traffic! Yes, there are just too many cars in Metro Cebu, which is why I strongly believe that we are not ready to move up from our current status of 3rd world country into a 1st world country status until we learn simple rudimentary ways in traffic management and that includes managing road repairs by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). A case in point is the ongoing repairs of the two, not one, but the two bridges spanning the Mactan channel. Why in heavens did the smart asses in DPWH do this simultaneously? This is why traffic has become horrendous in the two bridges. Can't they wait until school ends?

I suspect that the DPWH is being “pressured” by those in the Liberal Party (LP) who are now running for elective office under the yellow banner. Since the ascendancy of Pres. Benigno “Noynoy”Aquino, III to the Presidency, Cebu has not gained a single huge infrastructure project that they can brag as their own. So when the LPs go out campaigning, they are asked why Cebu has been left out in the last two and a half years under PNoy and to make up for this loss, they are fixing what needs to be fixed!

In fact, they are even destroying good roads and repaving them with poor quality asphalt just to show and prove that Cebu is in the priority list of the Aquino regime… as if we are nothing but a bunch of idiots who can be taken for a ride! A clear example is the Natalio Bacalso Ave. near the South Bus Terminal. I do not recall seeing potholes there and I got some irate callers questioning why the DPWH destroyed well-paved road when there are still many other roads that need to be fixed.

If you ask me, this is Aquino's Daan Matuwid style… fixing the roads that don't need to be fixed so that the people will see PNoy's performance because it is an election year. After the elections are over, we will never see them repair our roads again. Gads! Even the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) which we supported to the hilt, a pet project of then mayor and currently Rep. Tomas Osmeña was put on the freezer by PNoy without any logical explanations.

So if and when the LPs knocks on your respective barangays to campaign for the LP senatorial bets, ask them why Rep. Tomas Osmeña could not even convince the President to approve his BRT. It was Tomas Osmeña who convinced you to vote for Aquino. PNoy has only shown that he is not grateful to Cebuanos for voting him into office.

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Today will be an unforgettable day for Catholics all over the world because for sure, CNN, BBC and EWTN would feature a live coverage of the last hours of Pope Benedict XVI as Pope as today, he officially “renounces” his Petrine Office. The last time a pope had resigned was way back in the Year 1415 when Pope Gregory VII agreed to resign as a part of a negotiated deal with the Council of Constance to unify the Papacy, which for close to 40-years was ruled by two popes… one in Rome, Italy and the other in Avignon, France. It was so long ago that Canon Law has nothing on record on how to handle a pope's resignation.

After Pope Benedict XVI leaves the Vatican, the Carmelengo officially takes over the day-to-day duties of the pope, but only to call for the conclave that would elect the new Supreme Pontiff. The Carmelengo cannot even change the rules, which was last changed by the dying Pope John Paul II. However, Pope Benedict XVI did change the rules, allowing for an early conclave instead of the 15 to 20 days after the burial of the pope since there will be no funeral this time.

The latest we got from Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., Director of the Holy See Press Office, who called for a press conference the other day, was that Pope Benedict XVI will be allowed to keep the name of “His Holiness, Benedict XVI” and instead of wearing the black cassock of a cardinal, he can dress in a simple white cassock. He will be called “Pope Emeritus.”

A more important tradition is that Pope Benedict XVI will surrender his “Fisherman's Ring” which will be broken into pieces, a tradition that goes a very long way. Then surrounded by the cardinals, like the time when he announced his resignation, he will take a helicopter ride to Castel Gandolfo where he will be received by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello President of the Vatican City State. Then he will appear at the balconey of Castel Gandolfo for a final farewell as Pope… and the Swiss guards assigned to him will take their leave and they will be replaced by the Vatican Gendarmerie to handle his personal security and safety… and this is history we won't soon forget.

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