FIRST SAY:
The fact is that far more crime and child abuse has been committed by zealots in the name of God, Jesus and Mohammed than has ever been committed in the name of Satan.
Many people don’t like that statement, but few can argue with it.
—Carl Sagan
You will have to give it to Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong when it comes to thinking of ideas on how to solve various urban problems, one of them is traffic congestion.
It was reported the other day that the Baguio City government is planning the imposition of a congestion fee for vehicles entering the central business district as part of a smart urban mobility project. A fee of PHP250 will be charged under the proposal.
The congestion fee to be charged the motorists is one of the proposed measures to decongest Baguio’s central business district (CBD).
Aileen Refuerzo, chief of the city information office, said Friday the plan is part of the proposed Smart Urban Mobility Project aimed to develop the transportation system and services using advanced technologies.
The Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) submitted an unsolicited proposal to the city government, which will be under a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.
The imposition of congestion fee, similar to Singapore, London, Stockholm, Milan and New York, among other major cities worldwide, is aimed at significantly reducing traffic, carbon emission and energy consumption within the designated zone.
It will also promote discipline among drivers and motorists.
The plan exempts public utility jeepneys and vehicles driven by senior citizens and persons with disability, uniformed personnel on active duty and emergency response vehicles.
Taxis and government vehicles with approved travel orders will have a discounted congestion fee rate while vehicles by Baguio residents will be qualified for rebates, as proposed by the MPTC.
Refuerzo said the MPTC proposals aim to solve not only traffic but to improve overall mobility with services such as transport service platform, traffic command center, parking facilities and traffic enforcement.
The corporation envisions a Singapore-like transport system for Baguio where the riding public can monitor road conditions in real-time using mobile applications as well as book or reserve parking spaces before arrival to lessen the amount of time and petroleum consumed going around looking for possible parking sites.
She said road accidents will also be immediately addressed if the smart traffic command center is in place to monitor roads and dispatch responders, if necessary.
Any urban planner will tell you that a central business district is always congested because of the volume of business and other activities being simultaneously undertaken there during office hours, or during certain days.
Binondo in Manila is one example. All the banks, insurance companies, retail establishments, restaurants, bakeries, real estate businesses, fast food chains, etc. are in Binondo. This is because Binondo is the favorite location for Filipino-Chinese businesses, for some reasons based on feng shui.
The Intramuros-Binondo bridge that is donated by China to the Philippines has already made a dent in solving the traffic congestion in Binondo, but it looks like this is not enough.
The city of Manila really has to have a workable plan to decongest Binondo. This suggestion will also decongest Quiapo, Baclaran in Paranaque, and other areas similarly situated.
Close the churches and move them to far away places where there is space. Relocate all the houses of worship. Many will disagree and even get angry, but this is the only way to decongest Quiapo, Baclaran, Binondo, Tondo, etc. especially on certain days such as Friday and Wednesday.
No typical Filipino politician, mayor, governor, congressman or senator will adopt this suggestion, but I will say it just the same. Our leaders cannot do this because they wanted the votes from a predominantly religious population. You want traffic moving in Quiapo and Baclaran? Remove the churches, and relocate them somewhere else.
This is the same principle why our airports have moved from Paranaque-Pasay to Clark in Pampanga and later, Bulacan, Bulacan.
This is the same principle why we are moving our bus terminals from EDSA to the PITX in Paranaque.
This is the same reason why Brother Mike Velarde moved his traffic-and-noise-polluting Christian service called El Shaddai from the Luneta park to Paranaque. There is a sidebar story here because Don Emilio Yap, who owned Manila Hotel, reportedly complained to Manila and national government authorities that El Shaddai was causing inconveniences to hotel guests, which was true.
Why can’t it be done to churches? Some sort of a VIP?
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Many people are happy that El Nino has finally ended. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the phenomenon of very hot days, drought conditions, etc. has officially ended.
Pagasa Admin Nathaniel Servando said the conditions in the Pacific Ocean have returned to El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-neutral levels.
However, he added that the impact of El Nino, such as warmer-then-usual surface temperatures and below-normal rainfall, may linger in some areas of the country.
I am happy with these developments. That means I can visit my farm in Humarap mountain, Paete, Laguna more often and tend to my calamansi, langka, guava, banana, lanzones and other fruit trees again.
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