Another week of traffic

After five days of operations, the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) traffic management of EDSA has not solved the problem.

Tuesday and Wednesday, the heavy rains caused floods and clogged intersections from Parañaque to Caloocan.

Except for the Balintawak market area, the choke points in Cubao, Santolan and Ayala Avenue were not relieved.

It is now clear that the HPG plan was not studied well as they had only five days of planning and training.

In the beginning, HPG announced they were assigning 80 personnel which was totally inadequate. It was increased to 150 after the second day which was still not enough because it meant only 75 men per shift. HPG had to ask Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to assign 100 personnel to the EDSA project.

General Ricardo Marquez decided to assign the Special Action Force (SAF) and 20 new police recruits to the HPG EDSA operation.

One effect of the HPG EDSA Operation was the clogging of roads and arteries leading to EDSA, from the South Super Highway to Commonwealth Avenue to East Avenue.

Many other streets in Pasay, Makati, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Quezon City and Caloocan suffered traffic jams.

While Secretary Jose Rene Almendras is doing a heroic job of personally supervising the EDSA operations, it is still clear that other remedies like stopping the repair work and a new scheme of reducing vehicles on EDSA should be adopted.

These measures should have been adopted three years ago. With only eight months left of the Aquino administration, it is a bit late to adopt the solutions to the problems.

P-Noy still wants Poe as VP

In an interview with another paper, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino said he continues to hold out the hope, until the last day of filing of certificates of candidacy, that Senator Grace Poe will join the Liberal Party (LP) ticket as the vice presidential candidate of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

Why has he not given up on Poe? Some believe Roxas, who is lagging in presidential preference polls, can only secure his bid if he can persuade Senator Grace to be his running mate.  Clearly, Poe’s entry into the LP ticket will benefit Senator Roxas.

Senator Poe has not shown any interest to be Roxas’ running mate. She said she would be comfortable with Senator Francis Escudero, with whom she has discussed the possibility of running in the 2016 elections.

According to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., it’s no longer the President who should choose Roxas’ potential running mate but Mar.

Senate President Franklin Drilon said that LP members are starting the search for a vice presidential candidate with Secretary Roxas as he believes Poe will be seeking the presidency in next year’s polls.

Secretary Roxas had a meeting with Nationalist  People’s Coalition (NPC) leaders Wednesday noon at the NPC Clubhouse with about 20 LP congressmen in attendance.

As for the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), they have three choices to be Vice President Binay’s possible running mate. But UNA declined to give names. However, they are set to reveal its vice presidential candidate as well as its senatorial slate very soon.

Samar Rep. Mel Sarmiento is the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary to replace Secretary Roxas. Sarmiento announced he was going on leave as LP secretary general.

Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte made a definite announcement that he was not running for president or vice president in 2016 at a presscon in Davao City. However, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) announced that they are not giving up on Duterte. Senator Aquilino Pimentel, president of the PDP-Laban, vowed to continue convincing Duterte to seek the presidency even if the latter is not a sure winner, saying their partymates run not because they are sure winners but because they have something to offer.

The Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP) called on presidential candidates to bare their tax reform agenda. TMAP proposed a tax exempt annual income threshold of P300,000.

Mrs. Imelda Romualdez-Marcos wants her son Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to run for president.

Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay assailed Secretary Roxas of neglecting the fight against criminality. Vice President Binay said the budget of the Office of the DILG Secretary has soared from P2.8 billion in 2010 to P16 billion in 2015.

Tarlac 2nd District Rep. Susan Yap is running for governor of Tarlac.

Binay believes in criminal justice system

Aside from the P200-million damage suit filed by Vice President Binay last July, the Vice President continues to fight allegations of corruption against him by filing separate libel cases against former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV whom he both considered liars, political opportunists, and political detractors.

Trillanes, who failed to prove his charges against Binay, was not bothered by the libel complaint. He said he will remain focused on exposing the Vice President.

Due also to Trillanes’ lack of witnesses and evidence, Mayor Junjun Binay filed a libel complaint against the Senator at the Department of Justice last March. The libel case is related to the senator’s accusation that the young Binay resorted to bribery to stop his suspension in March.

Binay also stated that the recent plunder case that Lawyer Renato Bondal, who had partnered with Mercado to derail his bid for president, had filed against him were just recycled lies which were dismissed by the Ombudsman and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) ten years ago.