Traffic in the south: No one is solving it

Despite the repeated refusal of Pres. Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III to change the Charter, will Congress come up with a "damn-the-torpedoes" attitude and change the 1987 Constitution this year?

Apparently this is the game plan, according to House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. Of course, their main target is to amend those economic provisions that prevent more foreign investors to the Philippines. However it goes without saying that if indeed the legislative branch shows its independence from the executive branch, then Charter changes are possible even if the President refuses to join in.

Actually, this report came about when Speaker Belmonte disclosed to media that he was pushing for Charter change before he would meet with the various local and foreign Chambers of Commerce this week, anticipating that changes in the Constitution especially on the so-called economic provisions would be discussed with the business leaders in this country.

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Last Sunday, we took a leisurely drive 15-kilometers down south all the way to Samboan to visit historic sites and churches. Our first visit was at the more than a 155-year Balay na Tisa or the Sarmiento-Osmeña ancestral home in Carcar, which is now owned by the 5th generation Manuel Valencia Castro and Mac Valencia Vanzwoll who has kept this house as their legacy to the people of Carcar. It was for me quite timely that I had to come and visit the Balay na Tisa because of the news reports that the house was flooded when typhoon "Basyang" struck a couple of weeks ago.

The caretakers in Balay na Tisa told me that actually the area always gets flooded, but it was only the first time that this was reported in the news. But it should be a reminder to the municipal officials of Carcar to do something about this problem lest those cultural and historic "treasures" would soon crumble because of the flood. Not doing anything is what is called the sin of omission, which is just as grave as committing a sin.

Meanwhile as usual on the way back to Cebu City, traffic always gets snarled in the town of Minglanilla, which only proves that the town officials never cared to fix this problem at all. The solution is simple - not to allow tricycles to park on the national highway. This used to be the same exact problem that snarled traffic in Consolacion, but the transfer of the market away from the national road effectively removed the traffic away from there.

At this point, let me suggest that the traffic officials of Minglanilla put a dedicated fixed and fenced lane just for the motorists that do not need to stop in Minglanilla. By doing so, traffic can actually flow for as long as those pesky tricycles are removed from parking on the national road, which is prohibited by law in the first place. Mind you, the 150 kilometer trip from Samboan to Cebu City took me only three and a half hours with a five minute bathroom break. But more than thirty minutes of this time was wasted in Minglanilla. I have always said that Cebu should no longer be okay for us Cebuanos. We must take into consideration the numerous tourists that come and visit Cebu who shouldn't waste their precious time stuck in traffic!

Still about traffic. Who says that there is traffic going to the south? Yes. If you're talking cellular traffic there's none. Yes, most of the Telcos operating south of Cebu have already installed their 3G systems for smart cellular phones. But since not many people in the south have those new generation smart phones, I was quite surprised that whenever I took a photo and sent it to my Facebook page, no matter how many photos I take and send, it gets sent so fast and in less than five-minutes it is there in my Facebook.

But when I got back towards Cebu City, I had difficulty sending even a single photo in my Facebook. I can only reckon that this is due to the snarled traffic from smart phones by many cellphone users. This brings me to the report that I gathered in last Saturdays' Philippine Star that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) was now studying the possibility of make a new set of rules due to numerous complaints especially on mobile data, which can only be used if you are using a smart phone.

At this point, I urge NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba to immediately conduct a public hearing on what kind of rules should be set vis-à-vis those erring Telcos, where we can no longer send our emails from our mobile phones and yes, including our Internet connections which very lately has been in an on and off proposition. Having these Internet connection problems while you are traveling or going on a tour spoils the slogan of the Tourism Industry who says "It's more fun in the Philippines". But it ain't any fun at all when you can't text or make a call on your mobile phone.

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