Roughly noontime last Tuesday somewhere at the Carlos Garcia Diversion Highway in Davao City a multi-vehicular collision occurred. It was all because according to the driver of the truck that caused it all, the brake of his vehicle did not function. The result was that his truck rammed the vehicle next to it and the next hitting the one in front and so on and so forth until the total number of vehicles involved reached 10.
When the clangs and sounds of metal crashes died down several persons were injured and serious damages to the vehicles were noted. Some units were relatively new and expensive.
Naturally the owners could be gritting their teeth in anger to the driver of the vehicle who caused it all.
Can the traffic authorities attribute the incident to the driver possibly ignoring the maximum speed limit imposed on that particular highway in Davao City? May be, or perhaps not. Our take though is that the driver of the vehicle who started the multi-unit collision was within limit. But certainly he was guilty along with the truck owner with the grievous sins of negligence and irresponsibility.
How could they (driver and operator) be guilty of negligence and irresponsibility? Clearly, because it is cardinal rule in ensuring safe travel to first check the condition of the vehicle, do repairs or adjustments if necessary, and even change parts if there are those found likely to malfunction while in travel. And if extremely necessary they have to keep the vehicle in the garage until fully repaired.
So, if the claim of the driver is true that his vehicle’s brake did not function when he started ramming the others, then where else should the incident be attributed to but to his and the owner’s negligence and lack of foresight on the possibilities while the vehicle is negotiating the road?
The accident last Tuesday noon is one of the classic examples of what our friend Marlu Villarosa a former New York Police Department Auxiliary, claims that prevention of road accidents is a multi-way process. That is, that this needs clearly doable road use policies and regulations, driver behavior, consistent traffic law enforcement, enforcer’s continuing road presence, and of course the concern of drivers and operators of the condition of their vehicles and those who would likely be affected if they are negligent in the proper care and maintenance of their unit.
**********************************
The first day of the period for the filing of certificate of candidacy for Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) was described by no less than the Chair of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) George Garcia as similar to a “blockbuster,” a word used to describe the massive patronage of an event, usually the showing of a highly anticipated movie.
We do not know what is motivating those who are running to enter politics in the government’s smallest unit, the barangay. May be it is their real and genuine intention to serve the people. It could also be the “perks” that village officials get every now and then from out of their services.
We however, are not discounting the possibility that they are looking forward to the final implementation of the questioned Mandanas Law which provides village officials with fixed regular monthly salaries and other benefits due all other government workers. But we have some degree of certainty that it is the latter. In fact some candidates for barangay captains are doing everything to be assured of “captured” votes, one of which by convincing as many as 25 to 30 aspirants to join his/her line-up for the 7-man village council. If the candidate for Kapitan succeeds in that strategy that would mean he or she is assured of 25 to 30 votes in his/her favor. Of course we need not ask where they could have learned such political tricks. Just think of the last local election.
Should we therefore, be surprised if this early in the barangay election season killings and bullying of some aspirants are already happening?
