When Quezon Gov. Helen Tan made her seasonal visit to places and roads in her province that lead to the Bicol region, and then on to Samar and Leyte and then Mindanao, she was not surprised at the conditions of the roads.
It was a confirmatory visit in Tagkawayan town. To say that they have poor roads there is actually an understatement.
Tan also saw the same thing in the Calauag portion of the Quirino highway leading to Gumaca. Lopez, Guayas, and Calauag—all the same.
The lady governor recalled that since 2024, she had been asking the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to improve and maintain these national roads not just for the sake of Quezonin, but for all Filipinos in Southern Tagalog, Visayas and Mindanao who are mostly poor because they wanted to save money rather than pay for expensive air fares.
It goes without saying that the DPWH has been remiss in its duties on this matter. The DPWH Region 4-A is indeed SAMLANG.
Thus, this part of Quezon has become the venue of daily road accidents and mishaps that caused the lives of many motorists and commuters. This is not an exaggeration—just look at the police and LTO statistics.
The governor has advised drivers of motor vehicles to take extra care especially when driving at night, and most especially now that the long holidays are an opportunity for local travelers to escape the city and hie off to the provinces, despite the high price of fuel.
—o0o—
If the roads to perdition in Quezon province is samlang, there is even a more samlang and sinister event happening in the South China Sea, and it boggles the mind to think why President Bongbong Marcos appears to be not in a position to control it.
While the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and their counterparts in China are trying to patch things up and let diplomacy work, at a time when economic cooperation is demanded of neighbors because of the West Asia war, some elements of the government are putting pressure on this diplomatic effort.
Deputy spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Manila Guo Wei pointed out that just in the past two weeks, the PH military and coast guard have made multiple intrusions into China’s territorial waters and airspace.
He said last March 18, two C-208 aircraft flew over Huangyan Dao (Scarborough Shoal) and another such aircraft intruded into Meiji Jiao (Mischief Reef) on March 20.
Last March 25, Philippine ship 507 ignored repeated warnings, deliberately turned toward PLANS 532 near Zhubi Jiao (Subi Reef) and made a dangerous approach. China responded professionally and avoided an incident—only to be falsely accused afterward.
These incidents should not happen while the Philippines is practically wooing China to repair their strained relations with the hope that a joint oil and gas exploration in the SCS could be revived.
Sabotaging the talks is plain samlang. Are Brawner, Tarriela, Trinidad and Carpio listening?
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #OpinYonNews