UNLIKE other families in the region and in other provinces, there is no relief in sight for families in Pangasinan whose members have been separated during the pandemic, needing to be together finally for their yearly Christmas reunion after two years.

The odd and discriminating conditions being imposed by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in the region, invoking the IATF resolution, on the bus companies operating in Pangasinan to use the North Luzon Express Terminal in Bocaue, Bulacan and to pay P1 million monthly for its use are being firmly resisted, and understandably so.

It didn’t help that the provincial board believe that it did its part to alleviate the situation by simply passing a resolution of “no objection” to buses resuming operations serving  their usual Pangasinan-Metro Manila with routes during the pandemic.

Obviously, the board members had their minds on something else but the plight of families whose members have been separated for too long.  Their passive “no objection” position is nothing close to acting and serving proactively for the families in need.

The provincial board could have demanded for the LTFRB to withdraw its unfair and discriminatory conditions because these are being imposed on the bus companies serving the Pangasinan-Metro Manila route, but not on routes from other provinces and cities to Metro Manila. But it didn’t. Why?

We, therefore, say the provincial board is partly to blame for doing nothing and little else to serve families needing to be reunited this Christmas.

Beijing boycott

CANADA, Australia and the UK have joined the US in a diplomatic boycott of next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics. This means they will not be sending government officials to the Games set February 4-20, 2022, while allowing their athletes to compete in the 200-nation meet.  The snub is meant to hurt the pride of China, whom they accuse of human rights abuses on Beijing’s Muslim Uyghur people that some call “genocide.” Also, the boycott is to condemn an alleged sexual assault lodged against a now-retired Chinese vice premiere by Peng Shuai, a world-renowned Chinese doubles tennis player.  Peng appeared in public recently after having briefly “disappeared” and was described as in a “fragile situation.” China debunked the allegations by saying, “they are doing it out of ideological prejudice and based on lies and rumors.”  The word war never ends.  Who said sports is bereft of politics?

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