Safety of motorcycle drivers paramount

The news items in The FREEMAN titled “Racing legends: Barriers more dangerous for riders” got me asking, since when did we in Cebu have racing legends? To be totally frank, my group created the Cebu Racing Team to ride a huge motocross race in Camp Evangelista in the 70s. We were the only ones from Cebu. After all, we were the first ones who shifted from motorcycle scrambles and into the mainstream motocross.

I can’t forget that race (I only had one black and white photograph) as I was able to meet then motocross expert Manny Neri, the younger brother of Atty. Julius Neri but who competed in the Expert class. I placed second in that motocross race with my Honda Elsinore 125 in the Open class with a Manila friend who won first place.

From there we continued racing in what is now known as the Cebu reclamation area. Back then, there was no road or bridge to connect to Mandaue City so our racetrack crossed over to what is now the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) office buildings. I have my old photos to show exactly where we used to race. Anyway, I have not gone racing anymore but ride on big bikes for cruising and travel long distances. However, what got me to write this piece was when I read The Freeman story that Asian road racing championship leg champion Mario Borbon Jr. and one of the country’s living legends of motocross, Pepo Rubi, both Cebuanos, have raised serious concerns on the safety and the effectiveness of the barriers in motorcycles in containing the coronavirus.

The barriers required by the national government’s lockdown implementers are designed like a backpack worn by the vehicle’s driver. The government earlier approved barrier designs attached to the motorcycle after it allowed backriding for couples. Rubi said the barrier makes the ride more dangerous because it blocks the wind flow. I totally agree with them.

In the first place, married couples do not go on social distancing with their husbands while they are at home. So why force social distancing on them when they ride their own motorcycles? Anything that you put up on a motorcycle that makes it unstable to ride makes it a very dangerous ride! I really don’t know who is pushing for this, whether it is the Land Transportation Office (LTO) or the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF). They should have considered the most important thing that married couples do while they are at home. They don’t wear masks or do social distancing. At this point, I urge the people behind the LTO to reconsider this idea as it really doesn’t help spread the virus anyway, but rather it makes backriding on their motorcycles unsafe.

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Supposedly in order to finish the very unfinished Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), the Cebu City Council has created an ad hoc committee that will head the planning, design and construction of the unfinished CCMC. Can we believe that this is happening to the CCMC? Back in the old days, we were always told that if you don’t want to finish anything, give it to a committee who would talk about the issue to the death.

So let’s talk about CCMC. First let’s talk about its history. The old CCMC structure was damaged by a major earthquake back in 2013, the same one that caused the collapse of Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño’s belfry and many churches in Bohol. Then-mayor Michael Rama pushed for the removal and construction of a world-class hospital in Cebu City.

The construction started in 2015 but hit a snag when Tomas Osmeña became mayor in 2016. What was that snag? Simply put, then-mayor Osmeña didn’t like the new plans for the CCMC, so in short, politics was the major snag for this medical facility. None of these officials, especially Osmeña, cared for the people of Cebu who would have been the major beneficiaries for the CCMC project. Rama wanted a 10-storey world class building; however, it was cut to seven stories during Osmeña’s time, noting that only a little work was done at the end of his administration.

So will this new committee give us a promise that they would be able to finish the CCMC in three years? Abangan!

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