Everyone’s concern

Ben Contreras

YOU may harbor a certain degree of distrust upon a person or have reservations on one’s intention, but when this person shows genuine concern and seeks your assistance, you cannot just simply ignore it. Thus, when Ralph Abragan sought for a meeting with the Cagayan de Oro Campaigners for Road Courtesy and Discipline group, we obliged.

The head of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board,  Alan Guru, a batchmate of Abragan, has expressed to the latter his willingness to explore cooperation with private entities on how to help ease our traffic problem. How far Guru is willing to go would be a test of his sincerity.

LTFRB has control over buses, jeepneys, smaller transport vehicles, heavy trucks and others that need to be regulated, supervised and investigated for their compliance of the regulations as mandated in their charter.

While Guru’s initiative is commendable which other concerned agencies opted to be silent if not passive about traffic issues, he also runs the risk of opening a can of worms that have been the subject of rumors/speculations from certain quarters and the public in general.

A meeting has been set for the group of CDO-CRCD to be represented by our president Doy Ramiro and past president Dave Agudo. Abragan will be representing Save CDO Now Movement, he being the chairman of the group.

If this cooperation with the said government office prospers, we look forward to involvement of other agencies like the Land Transportation Office, the police and the Roads and Traffic Administration.

If they won’t cooperate or refuse to participate, we will do it on our own. We are confident the private sector would be willing to help should there be financial requirements.

Perhaps, we might also invite Marlon Libot in the meeting. Marlon is the head of Clean-10, another volunteer group whose members were actively involved in the past. They’re good at it, too.

Traffic is not just a concern of the government. It is a concern of everyone. We are the road users and in a sense, we also have a responsibility.

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For once I beseech our politicians to stop capitalizing on the plight of the poor. Stop using terms like “anti-poor” and “pro-poor.” Laws are not intended to benefit one particular sector of our society but for every one, every Filipino. A law does not recognize a man standing in our society. It can put anyone to jail, rich or poor.

If there have been incidents that showed one side being favored, it has nothing to do with the law per se but the implementer of the law.

Unless the motive of certain city officials regarding sidewalk/street vendors around Cogon Market are merely for grandstanding, they should be allowed to implement what the laws say.

Dili na nato gamiton ang kabus sa atong politikanhong katuyuan. Please, stop it.

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War can bring the worst and best of men and women. Let us offer our salute and prayers to the brave soldiers and policemen who offered their lives to keep us safe from harm. Likewise to the people, Christians and Muslims who help each other escape harm in the war-torn area. To the civilians who donated food and materials to the evacuees, kudos to you all.