“A
dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time
when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist.” Stewart Alsop
By
Alex P. Vidal
CITY
hall is wishing for the stars if it hopes to find a buyer for the
anomaly-ridden P137-million Pavia housing property in Pavia, Iloilo while the
ghost of unresolved graft and corruption cases filed against city officials and
several private persons is still hovering.
We
can’t blame the city government, however, if it continues to cling to its last
and only hope: sell the property.
It’s
better to try than doing nothing.
The
project has been rotting like a dead rat.
It
must be disposed of by hook or by crook.
For
several years now, it has become an ugly sight for people who pass by the area;
it evokes memories of greed and corruption.
The
area can’t escape the sight of motorists and even tourists who go to the
airport and vice versa.
Those
familiar with how the project went wrong can’t help but gnash their teeth,
stomp their feet and shake their heads in utter disbelief, anger and
frustration as they take one desperate look at the doomed project.
IMAGE
It’s
a ghastly image of how the taxpayers’ money was scandalously wasted and stolen
by a few privileged and abusive characters.
The
longer it stays there, the more painful memory it will give the taxpayers.
But
a wise real property buyer will always see to it that the deal is not bedeviled
by any legal entrapment.
No
rational real property investor will risk his money in a failed government
project.
Even
if the amount of the property is reduced to half, the nightmare it will bring
to the buyer can't be compensated by any gain once he is sideswiped by the
legal turmoil in the future.
It’s
like buying a drum of fishes in January for a big party in December.
Or
selling a life insurance to a terminally-ill AIDS patient.
-o0o-
MOST
death-related motorcycle accidents could be due to the riders’ non-wearing of
helmets.
When
the bike is hit by a speeding car or bus in the highway, the tendency for the
two-wheeled motorcycle is to fly away like a saucer.
If
the rider and another occupant don’t have helmets, the impact could kill them
immediately; they could suffer from fatal head injuries.
Either
their heads, upon landing in the pavement, are violently damaged or pierced
through by a pointed object or concrete steel like what happened to famous
ballader Ric Segreto many years back.
Balikbayan
biker Manny Alcalde realized this when he met an accident in the highway in
Mandurriao district, Iloilo City last month.
“I
was in a hurry as I was getting late for a meeting that day,” recalled Alcalde,
a newsman in Qatar. “A car in front of me slowed but hesitated to cut my lane,
thus I lost control of my motorcycle.”
Alcalde
suffered minor injuries in the arm.
“It’s
good that I was wearing a helmet,” he hissed. “I picked myself up and rushed
myself to the Iloilo Doctors Hospital using the same bike.”
Alcalde
said he learned two lessons from the near-fatal road accident as a motorist: 1.
Always wear a helmet; 2. Always prepare for an appointment earlier.
The
non-wearing of helmets for bikers is actually a violation of
Republic
Act No. 10054 or the Motorcycle Helmet Act of 2009.
The
law mandates all motorcycle riders to wear standard protective motorcycle
helmets while driving.
The
law will secure and safeguard citizenry, particularly the operators or drivers
of motorcycles and their passengers, from the ruinous and extremely injurious
effects of fatal or life-threatening accidents and crashes.
The
law mandates “to pursue a more proactive and preventive approach to secure the
safety of motorists, their passengers and pedestrians at all times through the
mandatory enforcement of the use of standard protective motorcycle helmet.”
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