Rough Cuts: A policy worth adopting

We strongly support the position of Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte-Carpio denying assistance from Lingap to driver victims of vehicular accidents found under the influence of liquor and other intoxicating substances.
Yes, if only to give those involved drivers lessons that their indiscretions do not pay then they have to suffer for the consequences.
The mayor must be firm in her resolve not to give in to the importuning of barangay captains who have been badgering her for reconsideration of her stance. While such position may have some political backlash on the mayor, we are certain that at this point in time such negative impact will not in any way hurt the chances of the Davao City’s lady chief executive. After all, she is running unopposed whether on her current position or on the possibility that she will trade places with brother Paolo who is also without opponent in the first congressional district.
And we believe that if the mayor wants her intention to reduce road accidents involving drunk drivers it would do her more good if she orders the barangay captains to adopt her stand. That is, refuse to endorse for Lingap assistance any driver victim of vehicular mishaps known drunk when the accident happened.
That way even at the barangay level the drivers and their families are already forewarned that they cannot hope for help from the local government’s Lingap program for their medical expenses. But the village chiefs can still continue providing transport support in bringing the accident victims to the hospital. This way the “Kapitans” cannot be accused of being remiss in their obligations to their constituents.
At the barangay level also the proper dissemination of the policy of Mayor Sara and its strict implementation thereat would be a major preventive measure to avoid drunk driving accidents.
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How’s the 30-day suspension of the operation of buses of Metro Shuttle?
The suspension was the offshoot of the deadly road accident in Nabunturan, ComVal Province some two weeks back involving a unit of Metro Shuttle and a unit of Bachelor Bus Line.
Clearly, if the operation is under suspension, all units are to be confined in the company’s garage for the duration of the suspension order. In the Metro Shuttle case the 30-day stoppage is barely half-way.
But last Tuesday we met a Metro Shuttle unit cruising Quimpo Blvd. apparently coming from the Ecoland Overland Transport Terminal going south. With passengers on board of course, unless they were maintenance crew.
Or, are the operators of the Metro Shuttle Bus firm too hot to handle considering its reported connection to certain personalities now walking in the corridors of power?
Yes, the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) may have found, to its chagrin, that some bus firms are owned by those who wield enough influence to relax sanctions imposed by the regulatory body on erring transport firms.
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Here is this very interesting idea floated by no less than President Rodrigo Duterte during a speech he delivered in a forum with brother Moro people as audience last week. The president expressed his interest in having our country’s name Philippines changed to Maharlika.
The President’s idea immediately caught fire generating reactions and discussions among those who claimed they are historians and authorities on words and meanings, as well as among ordinary men on the streets.
Immediately debates have ensued as to the motive of the President’s floating the change idea. In fact there were those highly anti-Marcos and anti-Duterte partisans that intimated the President is reviving a Marcos time proposal to change the name of the country into Maharlika. Seemingly these partisans are implying that there is basis in their accusation that the incumbent President is following the footsteps of the hated dictator.
Then, those who are in the circle of supposed authorities in history and words are saying that Maharlika as a name of the country is not even worth adopting. While in the country, specifically in Mindanao and the Visayas, Maharlika is associated with nobility or greatness, and creation, there are those who advance the theory that the same word connotes unworthy meaning in some countries in Asia, specifically India.
And in a radio-television interview of former senator and broadcaster Eddie Ilarde in the GMA News TV program yesterday morning, the former legislator who introduced a bill in the Batasang Pambansa in 1978 proposing to re-name the Philippines to Maharlika shared his views on the same issue.
Ilarde said he found nothing bad on the word Maharlika even as he insisted that King Philip of Spain from whom the name Philippines is derived, has been associated with a number of undesirable traits and physical maladies.
Whether or not some brave members of Congress will pick the President’s idea and introduce a bill to make it to reality we will know only after the next Congress assumes.
Meanwhile, let the debates rage on to further amplify the issue.