Marvin Isidore "Sid" Macatol Weblog

Traffic jam in Metro Manila on a Sunday? This happened around 11am on October 18, 2009 at E. Rodriguez Avenue, approximate in front of Saint Joseph. It turned out that a provincial bus was stuck with a tricycle that hit its rear. Whew! Was it fair for a bus full of passengers to stop in the middle of E. Rodriguez Ave., a major highway in Metro Manila, because the bus driver had to deal with a tricycle driver which hit the rear of his bus? I have difficulty looking at this situation as reasonable. In fact I found it absurd! Forgive the word. 



Flagging a taxi in Makati on a rainy night is a nightmare. I think it is every taxi rider's nightmare. Be forewarned. On the evening of Sept 28, 2009 (the one before Ondoy struck the country), we flagged six or seven taxis in a row. It was a rainy night then. They all refused to let us in. One said he was "on his way to Cavite." Another said he was "on his way to Pasay." Still another was "on his way to Parañaque," etc. Taxis were public utility vehicles without fixed routes, but they sounded like they had routes that night. And Quezon City, to them, was like a place on the far side of the moon, way out of their routes. Gosh, I thought and felt that was absurd.

Ondoy came and went, with catastrophy in its wake. Clearly the typhoon itself was an "act of God." But were the damages unpreventable? Not so, says Urban planner and architect Felino Palafox Jr. Palafox said a 1977 World Bank-funded study identified Marikina Valley, the western shores of Laguna de Bay, and the Manila Bay coastal area as among development areas that should prepare for flooding, earthquakes and possible changes in topography. (Source: Yahoo! News Philippines ) Such remark was hard to swallow, given the magnitude of heroism displayed by people to save lives of loved ones and to deliver relief goods to those whose lives were ravaged by the flood. In the light of what could have been done in the last 50 years, were those damages, sufferings, and heroisms totally unnecessary then?