Did you learn anything from Holy Week?

For our special presentation on our talk show Straight from the Sky, we finally bring you our discussion of some issues involving Metro Cebu’s Future Mass Transportation Program. First off, I would like to apologize to our readers and tele-viewers because this show should have appeared last March 17th. But then digital technology isn’t always perfect. Somehow after we did the first interview we learned that a large part of the external disc was corrupted and we could not recover most of the show. Hence, we asked our guest, Engr. Rene Santiago, for another interview and he obliged as he returned to Cebu a week ago.

As we pointed out, there are a myriad of mass transportation solutions out there and for Cebuanos who want Cebu to fast forward into the 21st century, we should have had a mass transportation system by now. But first we must answer the question, “When are we going to get rid of the venerable Jeepneys?” So what happened? Why has the jeepney remained in our only mass transportation system in Metro Cebu? That’s because we were afraid of change.

Actually if you studied things thoroughly, the jeepney has started shrinking. For instance, in many areas outside Metro Cebu, it has now been replaced by the multi-cab. In other inaccessible places, it has been replaced by the habal-habal. So replacing the jeepney after all isn’t difficult. All one needs to do is replace the jeepney with a better idea. So what’s better than the jeepney?

I’m sure you’re wondering what happened to the Bus Rapid Transit for Cebu City? Well, our guest tonight is Engr. Rene Santiago, consultant for the Japan International Cooperation Agency who has been studying mass transit systems in the Philippines for a long time now. He was there for the Light Rail Transit from conceptualization to implementation. He was one of those who created the Love Bus of the Metro Manila Transit Corp. and he knows about our BRT and why it was not implemented. This is what he would reveal in this interview tonight — that the BRT has been approved.

So watch this interesting show on SkyCable, plus where we should put the third link from mainland Cebu to Mactan Island on channel 61 with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel with replays also on MyTV channel 30 at 7:00AM and 9:00PM on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays.

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Happy Easter to all our readers. As we said in our Lenten Reflections Holy Week doesn’t end in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ… it ends with his Resurrection on Easter Sunday. So we hope that you had a great Holy Week and “profited” from it. When I say, “profit from it,” I mean that there were things that you may have read or heard about our Lord Jesus Christ that struck you… and perhaps changed you into a better man. For Catholics, I hope that the Holy Week made them better Catholics.

I was out of Internet for the Holy Days… and returning to the house last Saturday, I checked my Facebook and found out that there was a story from Rappler.com that became viral in social media. This story was about the new prelate Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle who last April 13th on Palm Sunday was told by the youth that they would choose God over small things or even watching TV. Their answer elated the good Cardinal.

However, he apparently pressed on and asked a more poignant question â€œWhat is more important, the Mass or US$30 million dollars?” But to his complete surprise, the youth shouted â€œUS$30 million dollars!” Naturally this answer bothered him… after all, Catholic teaching is very clear that we read in Mark 8:36, â€œFor what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul?” Clearly, our youth have embraced today’s world of materialism. This is why vocations for the priesthood have dropped to historic lows, as our youth doesn’t want to live a life of sacrifice.

Cardinal Tagle retorted, â€œSee that? The Lord is so easy to replace. It’s so easy to choose what is convenient, what will better satisfy myself.” By saying this, he asked the youth to set their priorities straight, as it was the beginning of the Holy Week. As it was Palm Sunday, it was easy to make parallels to the youth of today to the Jews 2,000 years ago, when our Lord Jesus Christ entered in triumph in Jerusalem with shouts of Hosannah’s. But a few days later, those shouts would turn to Crucify him, Crucify him! This only proves that man has changed so little in the last 2,000 years.

This story reveals how much the Catholic Church has failed in teaching the doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us hope that the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines would use this Year of the Laity to teach Catholics that the love of God should be above everything in our lives…above money or material things, after all, life is short and we are only pilgrims on this earth for our final destination is in heaven.

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