IT WAS posted on Facebook and still has not been erased as of this writing. We mean this statement/message. During Jesus Christ’s trial over two thousand years ago, Pontius Pilate asked the people who they would want to be released among Jesus, Barabas, and Estas. The last two were robbers. The people opted to have Barabas released and Jesus sentenced through flagellation and later crucifixion. The post further said that the situation still remains to this day. The people still prefer to exonerate and prefer the robbers and condemn the good.
Simply put. In recent times, the robbers get elected to office to serve the people and the honest are relegated to almost oblivion. And more often they are the ones brought to trial and convicted either by the courts or by public opinion.
And yes, there are those who wonder why there are so many corrupt government officials. These corrupt officials almost always find ways to get their hands into the coffers of government. And why should the people be surprised why they are there? Simple. The voters who back these officials during elections will not do their sacred duty of voting for a candidate unless they get money. So, the more “generous” among the candidates get elected into office where they have the opportunity to rob the very same people who catapulted them to where they are now.
The people indeed get what they deserve.
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Plying the main roads of Davao City was like, as a promotion language of a foreign airline company referring to its in-flight services years back, “Smooth as silk.” That was last Saturday, November 2, All Souls Day.
There were no clogging of vehicles in such highways as MacArthur and J.P. Laurel. Even San Pedro and C.M. Recto and Magallanes sts. The travel was “smooth as silk,” especially during the early morning hours of that day.
However, it was a different situation in the late afternoon and early evening. It was bedlam, especially on roads where major cemeteries are located, like in Wireless and the elliptical road leading to El Rio.
Coming from Brokenshire Hospital where we visited the wife who had been confined for a 3-medical procedure done on her, it took us an hour just to get out of the congestion roughly a kilometer long from the hospital exit to the crossing near the Rizal Memorial Colleges (RMC). Our travel was only back to normal when we were already at Quirino Avenue going to Bankerohan and then to MacArthur Highway up to our city residence in Catalunan Grande.
All in all, our travel in that distance of about ten kilometers took us a little over two hours with more than one hour devoted to negotiating the cemetery toad bedlam.
With the traffic mess and the problems of mounting hospital bills occupying our minds, we reached home that late Saturday evening very exhausted. And to think that we were supposed to be happy as it was our birthday!
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It looks like First District Councilor Dr. Bernie Al-ag is being unfairly condemned by some of his peers and other people apparently not on good political terms with the Toril-native local legislator.
Dr. Al-ag climbed an upland village in Tagurano, Toril District. His climb was immediately called out as a violation of an existing ban on trekking in that highland village issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
In Dr. Bernie’s justification, he claimed he and his group were there not for leisure but to find out how’s the people in that area coping with their livelihood after their tour-guiding activities were halted due to the trekking ban.
Is Councilor Bernie’s justification credible considering that he is representing the city’s first district? For those whose minds are ruled by political bias, maybe not. But maybe it is worth remembering that the doctor-councilor is from Toril District and he has the moral responsibility to look into the condition of the people with whom he and other immediate members of his family were associated for a long time.
And another thing, did his climb or trekking if those seemingly anti-Al-ag people would insist on calling the councilor’s ascension to that supposedly banned area, bring any harm to the environment? Did the walking of the feet of the “trekkers” led by Al-ag result in landslides or the uprooting of trees or seedlings and other forest growth?
If they are certain the Al-ag climbers brought such damage then have the Sanggunian Environment Committee investigate the first district councilor. Or better still, prosecute him based on the provisions of the ban. As simple as that.
