The best argument on how life begins

While a Facebook account maybe used by many as a way to tell their friends what they have been doing, which is why it is called Social Networking, however more often than not, Facebook can also be a tool for knowledge. My readers have known that we’ve been in the forefront in the fight to stop the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill from becoming a law. Although we lost that battle, this case has been elevated to the Supreme Court (SC) and therefore the lives of the innocent children now hang in a balance as they are now in the hands of a few Associate Justices who will make a decision whether the RH Law is unconstitutional or not?

The focus of this debate stems from one major question… where does life really begins? Frankly speaking… we’ve already present our side on this issue so many columns back… so there’s no need for me to reprint what we already wrote. However the other day, I got this message from my Facebook account that was truly an eye-opener because this was something that many of us in the Pro-Life Movement have missed. Here it is.

“If a single living cell was found in a distant planet, scientists would exclaim that we have found life elsewhere in the universe! So the question is, why is it that a single cell found in the womb of a pregnant woman is not considered life?” In my book, this is the best argument that I ever stumbled on about the beginning of life. I suggest that you ponder and reflect on this statement… because it is very true and therefore it should put an end to this argument.

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If there is anything going for President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, it is his brutally frank ways of showing his displeasure to his hosts whenever he gets invited, especially with regards National Government agencies. He even did this in a meeting with the Filipino-Chinese group. The latest “victim” of P-Noy was featured in last Thursday’s editorial in The Philippine STAR entitled “Presidential scolding” when the President gave the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) a “dressing down” and let me tell you that I concur with P-Noy, those NIA officials deserved that Presidential scolding.

Indeed that Balong-Balong Irrigation Project in Tarlac, the bailiwick of the Aquino family, was planned during the time of P-Noy’s mother President Cory Aquino and 27 years later… it was still unfinished. If I were in the shoes of NAIA Administrator Antonio Nangel, he should resign in disgrace for not attending to this project that would have irrigated some 12,000 hectares of land that the farmers need two decades ago!

Perhaps it is time for the Aquino Regime to conduct an inventory of those unfinished projects because I would like to believe that this is happening to many other government agencies not just the NIA. Here in Cebu City, we have two super delayed projects… the widening of the Gorordo Ave. Arch. Reyes Ave. which is only ¼ kilometer long and the widening of M. Velez St. which I started during my term as Cebu City’s volunteer (that means unpaid) Traffic Chief in the year 2005. Today, this short 150-meter stretch has ground to a standstill without explanations from DPWH officials.

Remember the sign on many dump trucks that declare “Government Project: Do Not Delay”? Come on guys…that sign isn’t worth anything if government contractors delay our infrastructure projects for any reason. That Metro Manila is suffering from flooding even in slight rains can be traced to delayed infrastructure projects either to clean up the rivers or esteros or transferring the illegal settlers away from these rivers and esteros.

This is why I laud the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino for finally deciding to bite the proverbial bullet and come up with a “Damn the torpedoes” attitude in solving one of the major reasons for the flooding. This is what is known as “Political Will” something that the majority of our politicians still have to know and embrace.

Still about the MMDA, they are also looking into what is known as “Zipper” lanes, which that can be “zippered” from say four lanes going to one direction and changed into six lanes during the rush hour. Countries like the US have adopted this because during the early morning rush to work, an eight-lane highway may have two or four unused lanes because in the morning few people are headed back for home. So two of those lanes can be used for the morning rush hour. Then it can be reversed during the afternoon rush hour.

Zippered lanes have done wonders to traffic prone areas and the US have finally found a mechanized way to move one or two lanes by the use of a truck that would move the cement blocks very easily. The problem that MMDA faces is… in this country we have center islands or the MRT in EDSA, which is now MMDA’s biggest challenge. Good luck to Mr. Tolentino.

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