Bothersome bus terminals?

By Gerry Garcia

Our  fellow-Promdi province of  Pangasinan Antonio Villar Jr., seemingly always in the fore-front in the drive against corruption in the government, hit the headlines again recently when he caused the filing of charges of smuggling against 29 government officials at the Office of the Ombudsman.

This expose on smuggling of luxury vehicles was probably the hottest so far since it involved personnel of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

Charged were a Manila Customs examiner, a deputy collector for assessment of the BOC, another woman-deputy collector for assessment, an assistant division chief, another customs examiner, an assistant division chief of the BOC in the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, another assessment division chief of BOC in Cebu, another examiner, a cash division chief and many others.

At the LTO: the registration section chief and a verifier at the same section… and many others.

Also charged were suspected illegal importers (or smugglers) from Philpan Subic Ventures, Inc., the president or general manager of Micro Base transport Eqpt. Co., Cuts Int’l etcetera, etcetera.

Proper names of those charged number 29 and we would not dare include them here plus their respective positions for reasons most readers less dumb than us would better understand.

But one thing that’s hard to forget is that the head of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) is a staunch slugger against corruption in government who could be heartless and spiteful even to the hands that put him in position.

So kabaleyan Tony “Bebot” Villar Jr., keep on punching.

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What MMDA director Roberto Esquivel of the Traffic Operations Center did to a bus terminal in Q. C. for causing traffic along EDSA—ordered its closure—could likewise be done in Dagupan if our local counterpart of the MMDA, the POSO jointly with the LTO, took corresponding measures on the eastern end of Perez Blvd where traffic flow is hampered with the presence of a bus terminal within the intersection area, especially when the automatic light signal system is not always working, and crossing traffic always becomes a run-for-your-life adventure.

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During the commencement exercise for nursing graduates at the University of Pangasinan morning of a Saturday recently, a big number of car-riding attendees were refused entry to the already over-crowded school campus and they were compelled to park their cars along the sides of the  already  narrow -2 lane main road.

Obviously a narrow school campus and narrow main roads are not a good combination for the happy reunion of graduates and parents that is characteristic of commencement exercises.

Even at the Lyceum Northeastern University a distance away from its relative UPang, the same problem of lack of parking space also prevails.

(Readers may reach columnist at sundaypunch2@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/here-and-there/  For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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