It's a time for fixing all the wrong things!

Now that the formalities are done, it’s time for Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his Cabinet to roll up their sleeves or barongs and get into the order of business… and finally fix whatever needs to be fixed in this country because if you ask around what really is the biggest problem that our country has been facing in the last 25 years? It is that we just can’t seem to fix whatever is wrong with our country so we could finally move forward and join our ASEAN neighbors in their prosperity.

One of the aspirations of Pres. Noynoy is his hope to do radical changes. Again, when we talk about radical changes, it means either he comes up with radical laws to promote those changes he wants or even better, he should call for a Constitutional Convention (con-con) so he can push for these genuine changes and make it happen. But he should be careful in doing things that are difficult to do, or worse he shouldn’t task his Cabinet to do simple things, but then assign it to a committee where it dies a natural death.

There’s no doubt the list of things to do is kilometric. Hence, Pres. Noy should start on practical ones that do not even need Congress for laws to amend or enact. A case in point is our driver’s license, especially with regards professional driver’s licenses. Cebu has recently seen a spate of bus crashes, starting from June 13 where 50 Iranian students died when their bus fell in a ravine along the Transcentral Highway. A few days later, a runaway truck killed 8 people as its container cargo fell on top of parked vehicles. Then a day later, a Ceres Bus Liner fell on its side when the driver lost control of his vehicle along the zigzag road in Sogod.

As we wrote last week, today buses carry as many passengers as a small turbo-prop airplane, yet airplane pilots go to rigid tests and periodical pilot checks to assure the safety of their passengers. This is something grossly lacking in our land transportation system. Nope, we don’t need new laws to pursue this; rather we need a forward thinking Cabinet Secretary for the Department of Transportation & Communications (DOTC) which we learned is now under Sec. Jose de Jesus. Perhaps whoever will be the Land Transportation Office (LTO) head should come up with a “Strike Three, You’re Out!” policy when it comes to traffic violations, just like what they do in the United States and other Western countries.

For many years and many more columns ago, we’ve been harping on this issue because the number of motorists have grown by leaps and bounds that we end up having too many ill-educated drivers in our roads. The LTO apparently gives emphasis on the person’s capability to handle or operate a vehicle. When that person learns to operate that vehicle, then the LTO gives him his license. In Western countries, operating a vehicle is only a part of getting one’s license. The applicant is taught to memorize and follow traffic rules, otherwise, no driver’s license would be granted. If the Aquino Administration would do this… I’m sure that it would have an impact on everyone of us who drives a vehicle. Now this is what we call a radical move.

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The assumption of fellow Cebuano Mr. Rene Almendras as Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary is one of the most welcome personalities within the Noynoy Cabinet because we know Rene as a no-nonsense type of person and a very professional one… that the Ayala Corporation yanked him out of Cebu to run their various businesses. Sec. Almendras has also stepped into the very office that frustrated Cebuanos because we have been unfairly paying higher pump prices for gasoline and diesel products by as much as P8 pesos per liter, compared to the prices in Metro Manila! Hence the Cebu Chamber brought this problem to the attention of then former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during a cabinet meeting a couple of years ago.

When a Congressional hearing on fuel was called in Cebu City, then DoE Chief Angelo Reyes gave explanations that were so uncannily similar to the press statements given by the lawyers of the Big 3 Oil companies. After numerous meetings instigated by Gov. Gwen Garcia, this problem was given to a Task Force in the Department of Justice (DoF) under Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar who told us that criminal cases would be filed against executives of the Big 3 Oil companies. Todate, these cases haven’t been filed for reasons I can’t yet divulge.

With Sec. Almendras at the helm of the DoE, I’m positive that the lovey-dovey relationship between the DoE and the Big 3 Oil companies that existed in the past will no longer be the norm and the Filipino people will finally get its due. We will not demand from Sec. Almendras a time frame for this, but that he gives this problem a priority… after all, Cebuanos have been paying more than anyone else in this country for their gasoline bills.

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