WHATEVER happened to the billions of pesos earmarked by the past administration to flood-control projects in Metro Manila?
I ask this again in view of the recent back-to-back floods that virtually crippled our perennially traffic-battered metropolis last week following massive downpours.
Submerged in almost knee-deep waters again were many parts of our so-called mega city, a rather sad refrain each time the rainy season is here.
Always, woe to the commuting public, who had to battle not only umbrella-twisting winds and driving through rains but floods, as well, spawned by sudden thunderstorms usually striking late afternoon close to dismissal times in both schools and offices.
Was it any consolation that Jojo Garcia, the relatively new chief of the MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority), was constantly barking the tired old line that floodwaters were receding faster than in the past because of “our pumping [10 of them?] stations” that suck out the floods into the Pasig River tributaries all the way to Manila Bay?
Still, the blame game sallies back and forth each time the floods come like the thief in the night: It’s the wastes, the piles of garbage, we throw indiscriminately out the window that is the chief cause of Metro flooding.
Didn’t a fridge that had seen better days as big as an aparador get stuck in a manhole, blocking the free flow of waters down the drain?
And how about a sofa as large as a matrimonial bed seen floating in an estero?
But then this: When a flood strikes, there is this sight that is both “friendly” and “irritating” at the same time to the eye.
It is an SUV (sport-utility vehicle)that has that built-in undue advantage over the passenger car when both are traversing the floodwaters.
While the passenger car practically crawls, if not wades, through the flood, the SUV just literally glides by and forges on uninterrupted—as if it’s traveling sans rising waters on a rain-drenched day.
No wonder sales of SUVs, to include trucks (pick-ups), in the country are always almost the preferred buys the last decade or so; their ground-clearing chassis higher than normal cars a big edge anytime.
What’s a few thousand bucks to spare for that SUV if it would mean comfortable travel on a rainy day and a worry-free conquest of floods anywhere in the metropolis?
As always, better safe than sorry.
TPLEx to surfing capital
UNKNOWN to many, San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is also seriously bent on extending the TPLEx (Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway) all the way to San Juan, La Union.
The unsolicited offer was revealed itself by the Department of Public Works and Highways. Receiving the SMC plan in February, the DPWH is now studying the matter with dispatch.
The SMC project is being accepted well by the DPWH, calling it a “fuel” to promote more development of Northern Luzon and an engine to improve the access between Central Luzon and Metro Manila.
Since the P24-billion, 59.4-kilometer TPLEx extension is an unsolicited offer, it will have to undergo a Swiss challenge calling for other companies to submit bids of their own following the project’s approval of the National Economic and Development Authority. Completion of the work in progress, 88.85-km TPLEx ending in Rosario, La Union, is targeted this December at the earliest minus the usual kinks attendant to construction of this magnitude.
The expressway’s extension to San Juan, La Union, is warmly embraced generally by Northerners and the city dwellers of Metro Manila, as well, especially our beachcombers and sea-lovers since San Juan is much-ballyhooed as the surfing capital of Northern Luzon.
Of course, another big beneficiary to this is Baguio City, which is already enjoying a tremendous economic growth due to a huge travel cut from Manila to the summer capital with the frenetic construction of TPLEx, whose exit in Pozorrubio, Pangasinan, has reduced trip times tremendously starting late last year.
Indeed, infrastructure is also spelled progress.
PEE STOP Congrats to Jacob Ang of Eagle Cement for ruling both the first rounds of the F125 SR Open and Veteran Open/X30 SR category of the 2018 Asian Karting Open at Kartrodomo de Calaone in Macau. Eduardo Coseteng of PSR/Petron Racing Team was second in the four-leg event that will resume hostilities on July 14 and 15 at the same venue. Ang is aiming to be a repeat champion after topping the F125 SR Open and the X30 SR Class last year. Go, Philippines, go!