SO, THE Philippines is Asia’s country with the most congested roads, and Davao City is the Philippine city with similarly situated streets?
As for the Philippines’ acquired “title,” according to a survey, we have no reason to argue against it. We have gone to the country’s industrialized and business centers like Manila, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, among others. And we personally saw the situation of the roads in those metropolises.
But as to the supposed survey showing Davao City as having the most congested roads in the Philippines, we doubt. Visitors to the city are witnesses to the local road situations even at the most crucial hours of the day.
How could Davao City beat Cebu and the Metro Manila cities when hardly a single road in those cities is free of bumper-to-bumper vehicular traffic?
Besides, people from other places in the Philippines, when they come to Davao City, are awed at the width of Davao’s major thoroughfares. And the agency that conducted the survey is saying Davao has the most congested roads in the Philippines?
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Now it is already official. Acting Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte and Acting Vice Mayor Rigo Duterte II are sworn in as the top two local executives.
Yes, for some time, the two – uncle and nephew, respectively, were rendering duties with some apprehension because of their being in an acting capacity. Their predicament was brought about by the arrest of the family patriarch, former President Rodrigo R. Duterte, and his whisking away for detention in a jail administered by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands.
The former President is facing a crime against humanity in the ICC filed by families of alleged victims of extra-judicial killings perpetrated during the Duterte regime.
The complainants are aided by Duterte’s top critics, one of them was former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
With the elder Duterte’s failure to take his oath as mayor of the city at the time that the elected local officials were supposed to start discharging their duties, the winning Vice Mayor (Baste) and the top-notch among councilors were temporarily designated to the positions pending study of possible legal problems.
With the formal swearing in of Baste and Rigo II late last week, we assume that all possible legal impediments were already cleared.
Our congratulations to both of you. And we can only hope that there will be no more hesitation in doing what is demanded of your duties and responsibilities.
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What an irony! Former Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr., the top leading man in several action movies with him playing the hero policeman and the one sending the criminals to jail, is seen by his adoring public as the “bad guy” being sent to jail.
And if we have to believe what jail officials were blabbering some four days ago, Revilla will not be afforded special treatment. He will be sleeping on a double-decker, together with some four others of his fellow accused occupying the same cell he is in.
The former lawmaker will also be eating whatever is affordable from the P100 provision for food daily to inmates.
Who should be blamed for Revilla’s sudden change in life experience? We have no doubt that he only has himself to blame. He had once been incarcerated because of his alleged involvement in the multi- million PDAF scam.
While he was later exonerated of the charges in that controversial money-making scheme of certain government officials and a few private persons, it appears that Revilla Jr. did not learn any lesson from his experience.
Had he, then he should have weighed to the maximum all the potential outcomes of entering such dubious transactions.
Now he is again deprived of the luxuries he enjoyed while he was a lawmaker and getting all the perks of a free man with all the fortunes his family has accumulated over the years.
Yes, the former Senator from Cavite humbly said he is surrendering himself to the law, as he will be able to extricate himself from the charges.
The perennially good guy in his movies, in fact, swore to God that he is not guilty of the crimes he is accused of committing. Hence, he claimed before getting into his cell that he would be acquitted of the charges.
May he have the angel’s words?
