Use your heads

By Egay Uy

WHILE the number of accredited private emission testing centers is wanting, thanks to whom it may concern, one solution the Land Transportation Office (LTO) or the Department of Transportation (DOTR) may want to consider is to temporarily waive the emission test.

If this has to have a legislative act, then go to Congress.

Of course, once the number of PETCs will have become sufficient in number to serve the volume of motor vehicles in circulation, the waiver will have to be recalled and the subject motor vehicles submitted for emission tests. Those who fail to do so within the prescribed period will have to pay penalties.

There simply are so many ways to kill a cat, so to speak. Think outside the box if you will. Take the extra mile if you still have the stamina to do so. Use your heads, in short.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not offering the right solution or anything that is the result of years of study.

What I’m saying is please widen your perspective and see all sides of the coin when making decisions. I know you are not infallible. So am I. But please do justice to your salary grades. Use your heads.

***

The official confirmation by the Department of Health (DOH) of the presence of a Covi-19 patient at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center was not really a shocker but simply that – a confirmation. (The patient died on Friday night.)

So, Cagayan de Oro City had a confirmed Covid-19-infected person.

Although he was not from Cagayan de Oro, he was admitted to the NMMC for treatment. DOH regional director Dr. Adriano Suba-an was quick in saying that the competence of the NMMC doctors made it possible for them to subject the patient to tests that eventually revealed his infection.

That was both good news and bad news. It was good that our medical practitioners can detect Covid-19 ailment, but it was at the same time bad because we had at least one patient who tested positive for Covid-19.

We should not panic. Supermarkets and grocery stores have suddenly been filled with long queues at the cashiers where we can see carts filled with what appear to be common household items.

Noticeably, however, almost everyone in those long queues has purchased alcohol in bottles.

Let us not contribute to the confusion! We, at the city price coordinating council, the Department of Trade and Industry Provincial Office, and the city council’s committee on trade and commerce have appealed to the retailers in the city to limit the quantities of fast-moving items sold in their outlets.  This way, the supply will last longer and the consumers will have equitable opportunities to avail of the goods that they use daily in households and we will have eliminated the urge to resort to panic buying.

We will continue to be watchful and to monitor.

(Egay Uy is a lawyer. He chairs the City’s Regulatory and Complaint Board, co-chairs with the city mayor the City Price Coordinating Council, and chairs the city’s Joint Inspection Team.  He retired as a vice president of Cepalco.)