Himogaan Bridge to
divert heavy trucks

For years, the primary complaint of Fabrica and Paraiso residents was that heavy trucks endanger the bridge that is in danger of getting toppled down the river.

But the beautiful thing is that the new bridge, under construction, will be bypassed and Paraiso and the dangerous curved highway to Central Lopez. Instead, according to Rep. Alfredo Marañon III (Neg. Occ.,2nd District) the second bridge has been allocated P125-million and death curve beyond Central Lopez will be straightened to prevent accidents .

Thus, the present bridge will be limited only to less heavy vehicles and, this will preserve Fabrica and Paraiso as the commercial and small industrial center of Sagay City.

The second bridge will be at Hacienda Maya of Barangay Cabahug in Cadiz City. It will span the Himogaan River at the lower portion where it need not be that high an elevation which the present bridge spans.

Kudos to Rep. Marañon and Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson for having come up with a good solution to prevent the collapse of the present bridge.

***

Kudos to the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industries Inc. officials who had taken extra pains to bring two truckloads of relief items to Dumaguete City.

This only proves beyond reasonable doubt that the bias against Filipino-Chinese and the outgrowth ignorance and the ethnic distrust of the Filipinos of Chinese extraction.

But over the years, they have proven themselves often more Filipinos than most of us. And they have proven this beyond reasonable doubt.

Our family had always been close to the Filipino-Chinese families of Paraiso and Fabrica. That is why several of the children of the revered Vicente Ty Huy Dong of Paraiso have adopted the family name Espina. They are godsons and daughters of our parents.

Over the years, despite our ages, we have come closer to each other. More like brothers and sisters.

Yet, never in our prolonged interaction have there occurred any hint of bias either from them or us. We just treated one another just that – fellow human beings and Filipinos.

That’s why I wish to salute them – the Fil-Sinos in our midst for their patriotism. And for exercising Christian generosity and charity toward other Filipinos.

***

The thing that struck me is that yesterday’s celebration of the Feast of Epiphany signaled the end of the Christmas liturgical year.

The original characters in the Scriptures were the magi (wise men) of the East. These were gentiles (Non-Jewish). But they were notified by God about the birth of the Savior, a signal that the redemption was not confined solely to the Jewish People.

The wise men followed the STAR which guided them from Jerusalem to Nazareth after their meeting with King Herod. The latter, although a Jew, was troubled by the prophecy of the birth of a new King of the Jewish People.

Then sent them away with the rejoinder to tell him if they finally locate the Child Jesus.

But the magi were warned by an Angel in their sleep not to return to Herod who had already his heart set it the massacre of the innocents.

In the Feast of the Epiphany, we learn a lesson: that God makes no distinction between the chosen race and the gentiles. Instead, the message was clear – He loves all man regardless of their color of their skins and their creed. Instead, He invites all to avail of the love of God for all men.

***

There is more fun in the Philippines. That’s the catchy slogan of the tourism department.

But before we can invite more foreign visitors to the country, we should be able to discipline ourselves and become more conscious of the fact that each one of us deliver the message to others.

Thus, my youngest son. Rolando Junior recounted to me one picture he and his daughter, Daniella, had seen over ANC. This was an instruction by a local LTO instructor to a driver. Red means, stop. And green, means go! But when it comes to the orange light, the LTO man told the driver – that means speed up before the stop sign is on.

Daniella also told me later that she was shocked to hear the same LTO agent complain about an LTO driver’s license. The LTO agent reportedly told the driver – “there” is nothing wrong with this license.

Suddenly, the man quipped – but, Sir, I just want to ask you how come that the licensee is a blind man.”

My daughter, Malou, is a good driver. But every time she is in Bacolod she drives with “Shits”. The reason – she considers local drivers undisciplined. Worse than Manila drivers.

And everytime, Jun Jun takes the wheel of either of one of our town cars, he never fails to point out to me violations by local drivers of traffic rules and regulations.

Almost every 10 feet of the street or road, he cites to me violating or truck drivers and worse, when we were coasting along the Circumferential road to Bata, we saw several cane trucks without warning lights nor hazard warnings devices.

And, of course, nobody around, to warn them or give them tickets.

And, yes, it is also a fact that many areas of Bacolod still have garbage strewn along the streets. Worse, in the Circumferential road, I noticed garbage piled in an area that had no surrounding houses or subdivisions. Only shows you that neither the residents or the city government had taken efforts to collect them and dispose of them properly.*

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