By Pet Melliza/ The Beekeeper
When we saw the pictures posted by Peter Jimenea on a social medium evening of April 5, we thought he was only doing his duty as journalist reminding authorities to install warning signs on mounds of aggregates along the road.
We didn’t realize that Peter took those pictures more as victim than opinion writer. He was limping on slippers when we met the next day; the toes of his right foot were swelling.
He was cruising on his motor buke along the road at Molo district that evening when the headlights of an approaching car alerted him from sudden collision. He quickly swerved right to avoid the speeding vehicle. He did not realize he was heading to a mound and it was too late for him to avoid it. He lost his balance. Luckily, he sustained only a minor injury.
We can only wish the swollen right foot belonged to the smart guys at the Iloilo City Engineer’s Office if only to remind them of their duty to ensure that all roads in Iloilo City were clear and safe; those under construction with mounds alongside, should have proper warning sign. This is not asking too much.
The road was a busy one and it should have been cleared of obstructions. There have been accidents, some fatal, not only in Iloilo City involving mounds of aggregates on roadsides sans warning signs. At the very least, yellow tape used by the police should have cordoned off those mounds so motorists could readily recognized them from a distance.
The City Engineer’s office was asleep on its job. It should act now before more accidents happened due to those unmarked obstructions.
Incidentally, April 6 evening, yours truly read a post in the social medium, from an account named Jed Patrick Mabilog, who “requested” me to click “like” on its post.
For outsiders, the name belongs to the mayor of Iloilo City who happens to be a “friend” on FaceBook. The post wants me to “like” a poster comprising spliced pictures taken in Iloilo City. The more “likes”, the bigger the chances of the city landing in the animal called “New 7 Wonder Cities of the World”.
The invitation-to-click “like” is not doing the city any good at all. It trivializes the serious job of development. Communities, Iloilo City for that matter, grow or develope from a complex of factors, foremost of which are people whose labor and resources propel the change.
Developing Iloilo City through a social medium popularity contest merely promotes phantasia the way the American Idol does.
Why does the FaceBook account named to Jed Patrick Mabilog become so enthusiastic, ecstatic even, in asking netizens to click “like”.
For Peter and many other like-minded citizens of this city, landing in the highest slot of the New 7 Wonder Cities means nothing if local government continues to misuse our taxes and deliver ersatz development.
Accidents happen due to mounds of aggregates lon roadsides sans warning signs and authorities do nothing about them.
Poor hygiene and sanitation hound households from Calaparan to Sto. Nino Sur, Villa, Iloilo City due to lack of sanitary latrines and piped water.
Iloilo City’s traffic remains a mess because all traffic lights have been knocked out for years while big business convert roads their private garage.
And city officialdom would rather regale us with make-beliefe, the New 7 Wonder Cities fantasia that can never substitute reality.
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