THESE greetings of ours may be a little late. Imagine having it expressed two days after Christmas! Of course our felicitation is days before the entry of the New Year. So, we believe we are still very much within the holiday season.
So we are greeting our family members and relatives who were not with us during Christmas day, personal friends (met and unmet), simple acquaintances, and our readers who are closely following our columns in this paper, including those who felt aggrieved or offended by some of the items we wrote here, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
During the holiday season it is apparent the people of Davao seem to have enjoyed the return to normalcy of the situation. Meaning, despite the non-declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) that the CoViD 19 pandemic is over and the continued warning by health authorities that the massive health problem is still very much with us, life has gone back to what it used to be prior to the global health problem. Davaoenos are of course among those who exude their new freedom from the clutches of the disruptive pandemic.
As early as six to eight months ago we in Davao were starting to enjoy the loosening of restrictions in movement. In fact towards the third quarter of this year, Davaoenos were among those who started enjoying the privilege to make option whether to take their face mask in public places as provided for in a Presidential Memorandum, or follow the Department of Health’s (DoH’s) persistent reminder not to be complacent.
Apparently, with this wide leeway to make their choice we found the month of December to be the heydays for Davaoenos to go out and troop to their favorite places like malls, night joints, eateries and parks. Some continued to heed the call of the health department but the majority were already taking off their masks indicating their preference to the option provided in the Presidential Memo.
The consequence of course is too noticeable. The new found freedom of movement and the return of the face-to-face classes even if limited in some grades, brought back to the city streets a huge number of public utility vehicles and passengers of course. Thus, by the time December had set in, the humongous vehicular traffic reemerges in the city’s major thoroughfares.
Two weeks before Christmas day, chaos on the roads was all too visible. This is despite the fact that the number of public utility jeeps plying the city roads is not yet in its maximum, and those drivers undercutting their authorized routes instead of plying it in full.
And if we have to share our experience in dealing with the traffic situation in the city, the last time we were at downtown Monday before Christmas, we braved the traffic from corners Suazo and R. Magsaysay st. to a well-known mall in Bajada for roughly an hour. In fact it was only some four kilometers distance. Whew!!! What a travel.
This traffic situation in this supposed to be the gem city of Southern Mindanao leads us to ask this question: What happened to the much hyped solution of the city’s traffic problem – the Rapid Bus Transport System, a project proposed during the term of then Davao City Mayor (now Vice President and Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio?”
The Rapid Bus Transport System is one of three major transport-related infrastructure projects set for implementation by the government starting from the administration of former Davaoeno Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte; one in Davao, another in Cebu, and still another one in Metro Manila. These are to be implemented with funds from the proceeds of a loan from the World Bank. In fact a portion of the loan, probably the amount needed for the feasibility studies, has already been released, according to some officials at the Department of Finance based on a television interview done only recently.
The Rapid Bus Transport system was hot item during the time of then Mayor Sara but quite apparent to be hardly mentioned in the current city administration. So can anyone from City Hall apprise the public as to the status of the project? Has it been deferred or totally scrapped?
We are asking only because we will be the same people in the city who will be paying for the loan intended for the project.
By the way, the Rapid Bus transport System appears to be taken off the limelight. In its stead are the half completed Davao Coastal Road project and the Bunawan District-Sirawan, Davao del Sur by-pass road.
Again what is the real score of the proposed Rapid Bus Transport System project? People need to know considering that they will not just be the ones paying for the cost of its construction but because it is supposed to address the city’s major problem. Traffic, as many of us agree, brings ill-repute to a city hyped as haven of progress.
