My friend said she was reduced to tears by the emotional reunions of the miners and their loved ones. Out of curiosity I checked out the replay of the coverage. Like my friend I also felt emotional watching the reports but for an entirely different reason.

While watching the video of the last miner emerging from the rescue shaft, I realized how much thought went into the whole operation. It can’t be denied that this event was not just a miracle as some people say but also a showcase of excellent crisis management, careful analysis and commitment.

I was reminded of the Quirino Grandstand Hostage Crisis and how our officials bungled their handling of the situation at the cost of 8 lives.

Another friend said I shouldn’t compare the hostage crisis to this event in Chile. He pointed out that the rescuers in Chile had more than enough time to carefully plan out the whole thing whereas local authorities didn’t have that luxury when they dealt with the hostage taking.

Fair enough.

But then what about the gas leak at the West Tower Condominium in Makati? It has been three months since the leak was discovered and up to now its source remains unknown.

I suppose no one can argue that the handling of this particular situation is a perfect example of how inept, incompetent and uncommitted our authorities are.

The last report I heard is that the leak is getting worse but that the Makati City government remains firm in ruling out the evacuation of the area around West Tower Condominium. I’m not sure if that’s a wise decision. All I know is nasa huli ang pagsisisi.

The Philippines has had many disasters already many of which could have been avoided if only pro-active thinking were the norm here. Just consider the following:

• overloading of ships
• use of substandard PUVs
• boundary system of PUVs
• presence of squatter colonies and industrial facilities along waterways
• undisciplined use of non-degradable advertising materials
• giant billboards
• uncovered manholes
• illegal logging
• indiscriminate garbage disposal

Obviously, this is just a partial list. There are many other potential threats to life and property that we seem to just ignore until it’s too late. Being the case we always end up just reacting when we can simply avoid disasters through careful analysis and pro-active action.

It would do our country a lot of good if we all try to really learn the lessons from Chile’s experience.

The Aquino Administration’s policy of adding two years to basic education was the topic of the Editorial Writing Exercise I gave to 40 students from several elementary schools in Quezon City on September 25, 2010 at Cubao Elementary School.

Most were opposed to the idea. Some were in favor of it while a few were undecided. Those opposed do so only on the ground of the additional financial expense on families who send their kids to public schools or private schools. Those in favor said they want to learn more and be better prepared for high school and college studies. The undecided have mixed feelings because of the pros and cons of the policy.

But when I asked the ‘opposed’ group what if the government is able to find ways to help families cope with the additional expense, they said they would be in favor of the added two years. Those in favor say staying in school is worth the expense because they learn more.

It really is as simple as that. If the Aquino Administration wants opposition to its plan to be reduced or to vanish, it just has to find ways to make sure that families get to have the funds they need to spend for schooling expenses.

Government intervention can be in the form of an expanded and more effective Conditional Cash Transfer program. More scholarships, even for those students whose grades are just average to above average. Livelihood programs for Parents-Teachers Associations. Create more jobs. Help more entrepreneurs at the community level., so these entrepreneurs can create jobs.

To give the education agenda a big boost, I suggest the issuance of at least P200 billion to P300 billion pesos worth of Education Bonds to address most of the logistics and resources problems.

On the additional two years, my suggestion is to have a Junior College level added right after high school. How? Have the State Universities and Colleges and Private Colleges and Universities build-operate-and transfer the Junior Colleges. Use part of the Education Bonds to finance the BOT of the Junior Colleges. Then transfer the Junior Colleges to the Department of Education to make them officially part of the basic education subsystem. Issue addressed in two to three years.

Another way to make it possible for families to have more money to spend on education: start the school calendar in January instead of June. Families will realize that the extra money they have during Christmas will be better spent if they are saved and then used for enrolment expenses in January. Families do not have extra money in August or September, so it does not make economics sense to start the school year in September as some have proposed.

Another idea on the financial aspect. Enact a law that will give a tax credit or additional tax exemption of P10,000 for every grade school or high school student the individual or corporate taxpayer sends to school. Yes, corporate taxpayer included so that the private business sector will be encouraged to set aside more funds for scholarship programs. Why P10,000? P50 pesos baon per day multiplied by 200 days of school.

Together with a bicycle system, BRT should be a good solution to our traffic problems. A recent report says a BRT is already being planned for Cebu City.

Now why don’t we use that “I am proud to be Pinoy” spirit to good use and support something really worthwhile. Let’s push for the implementation of BRTs here in the Philippines.

To find out more about BRT, visit this wikipedia entry.

The PNP leadership may turn a blind eye but it can never deny that some police personnel routinely engage in such acts.

One time I chanced upon a police mobile car with a young boy seated inside. Apparently he was picked up for vagrancy. As I walked by I overheard one of the police officers verbally abusing the boy. The policeman wasn’t cursing at him but what he said sounded really ominous and I can only imagine more so to someone as young as that kid. The policeman said:

“Baka gusto mo tuluyan na kita.”

The policeman probably didn’t mean it. Maybe he was just trying to scare the kid. But still, that was no way for anyone to discipline a child.

Of course, the video we’ve been seeing this past few days is far more troubling.

To be honest, watching it made me angry. It made me wish the same or something worse would happen to that torturer. I even thought that if I were to do the honors of giving him hell, I’d also have a string attached to his genitals and with the other end of the string attached to a car I will have him dragged along a road littered with shattered glass and salt.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who had such evil thoughts.

Now that’s the thing. Why is it that our reactions to torture videos depend on context? Just imagine if it were Saddam Hussein, whose regime resulted in the torturing and killing of many innocent people, who was shown being tortured. How about Adolf Hitler? How about Sr. Insp. Joselito Binayug who has been tagged as the abuser in that torture video?

I posed these questions to a friend and he said there’s a big difference between thinking of doing something and actually doing it. He is of course correct. Still, I wonder. Would it take much to drive a person to actually do unspeakable things to another human being?

I wonder if Binayug was thinking along the same line as he was being interviewed by some reporters.

(excerpt from www.asiaone.com)

He briefly mentioned that one of his children had been held up near a precinct and told reporters that if they had children, they would know how it felt.

What I find more troubling about this whole issue is the fact that the PNP has failed to ensure that no policeman would ever carry out inhumane acts such as this. I dare say that up to this point everyone who has held a position of authority within the police organization simply lacked the balls and brains to formulate and implement measures that would put a stop to all forms of police abuses.

A witness who spoke anonymously on TV said that while many policemen object to the use of torture they feel they cannot do anything if the one doing it is a superior. While I think that is such a cop-out I can also understand how that would be a real problem. No one likes to jeopardize their career by telling on a superior.

That to me is a clue that points to a possible countermeasure. The PNP leadership should bring down all barriers preventing lower ranking personnel from reporting abuses committed by their superiors. It should also provide significant rewards to whistleblowers whose exposes are proven to be true. Spot promotions would probably sound appealing.

I’m not saying though that this is the ultimate solution. I still believe ensuring a humane and professional police force can be done by simply strengthening the screening and recruitment process. As it is, I think the PNP is doing a poor job at screening out undesirables. These of course include sociopaths and psychopaths as well as those with a history of boorishness and thuggery. I don’t mean to be discriminatory but I’m also convinced that people with impoverished backgrounds should be rejected from the police force outright. It’s simple. Why should people who are primarily motivated by a desperate need to make money fast be allowed to carry a gun and hide behind the shield of the law?

The PNP leadership probably won’t have the time to give these suggestions any thought right now. It needs to focus on managing the publicity nightmare brought on by this torture video. On this, I have one last suggestion for the PNP. Don’t approach the issue from a public relations standpoint. Instead, do the best you can do to actually get those involved in the atrocity and ensure their imprisonment by building a strong case against them.

In short, just do what you’re supposed to do.

I had wanted it to be as comprehensive as possible but after much thought I realized a shorter and generic list would be enough.

So here goes. A list of things I would like the President-Elect to do immediately.

1. Stop making excuses.
2. Stop talking about your parents.
3. Start talking about your vision.
4. Start talking about your concrete plans.
5. Order your media handlers to stop feeding the Filipino people with showbiz crap.
6. Tell your sister Kris to stop talking, period.
7. Don’t appoint people based on their closeness to you. It’s distasteful especially when all they have going for them is their showbiz roots.

As simple as these are, I am confident these recommendations can help the President-Elect become more “presidential” and less “showbiz.”

Related to this, a commenter on my previous post “Aquino Wants Us To Lower Our Expectations” wrote:

Can we just let him be president first, and reserve the criticisms for later?

I think this is a sensible recommendation. However, I will follow it if and only if the President-Elect will start showing us that he is in charge of his camp and that he will no longer allow “showbiz” tactics and gimmicks to dictate his decisions and actions.

It’s time for REAL change. Are you up to it Mr. President-Elect?

The second one is the Noynoy supporter who, at least, tries to think things through. They support Noynoy not necessarily because it is the fashionable thing to do but because they really thought hard about it. Their only problem is they think more with their “heart” instead of their brain. Most of them also have a child-like belief in elves, dwarves and orcs.

The third one is the supporter who have been fooled into believing that a vote for any other candidate other than Noynoy is a wasted vote. Let’s call this supporter the Wasted One. This type of Noynoy supporter claims that he does not necessarily believe Noynoy is the best choice but because he has been brainwashed into thinking that a Noynoy defeat equates to a Villar victory he will just go for the Yellow One, their so-called lesser evil.

I no longer want to focus on the first two types because for all intents and purposes they are  already a lost cause. There’s no point in trying to sway them unless you believe trying to get a cult member to give up his beliefs is worth it.

I want to pay more attention to the third type, but before anything else I’d like to get one thing out of the way. I’d like to say that those who fall in this category are worse than the first two. Many of them are liars pretending to be new converts when in fact they are paid hacks long involved in the Yellow Propaganda Campaign. As for the few genuine new converts, well, the same thing but only because they have it in their heads that by rooting for Noynoy they’re being patriotic.

Voting for Noynoy as a means to prevent a Villar victory is a foolish idea based on a number of stupid assumptions — that this election is a two-way race between Noynoy and Villar and that the survey results churned out by Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations can be trusted.

The third type of Noynoy supporter should be made to realize that this is not a fight between good and evil and that Noynoy is nowhere near being the “good” he and his followers make him out to be.So what if Noynoy promises he will not steal? What about the other thieves in the government? What about the opportunists-in-waiting?

Obviously, followers of the yellow plague think corruption happens only at the high levels of government. Let’s be realistic. Clean politician is still an oxymoronic concept.

The Wasted Ones should realize that they’re not doing the country any favor by supporting a candidate who has no real track record and solid plan for the country. It would be better for them to just choose among the candidates with the best qualifications. That should not be difficult at all. Just exclude the real nuisance candidates namely Joseph Estrada, Villar and of course Noynoy.

I’ve been very conscious of this since a few months ago after our car got rear-ended by a delivery truck. This issue also became a major part of my consciousness during the Holy Week vacation as well since the two trips I took had me driving through the whole length of three expressways: South Luzon Expressway, North Luzon Expressway, and Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway. The trip back to Metro Manila from Subic is especially worth mentioning (in a negative sense).

Here’s a summary of what happened. Shortly after passing through the NLEX tollgate at the Pampanga end, we encountered a traffic jam. Initially, I thought it was due to the high volume of motorists making their way back to Metro Manila. I was wrong. The cause of the bottleneck were two separate pile-ups or multi-vehicle collisions. One of the accidents involved at least three vehicles, the last two of which clearly figured in that situation because of a failure to keep proper braking distance.

I admit that because of the accident I had a few months back I was anxious about driving along expressways. The main reason for this is that I can no longer trust other motorists to know enough about the physics involved in driving a motor vehicle.

As it so happened, the basis for my fears and anxiety was real. I had expected each and every motorist who drove by the scene of the two accidents to be reminded of the dangers of driving recklessly along an expressway. I was wrong.

Just after passing those pile-ups, several cars whizzed by at speeds well over the maximum speed limit. While I may have just dismissed their stupid driving as something that did not concern me, I really couldn’t because simply put: their recklessness endangered not only themselves but others as well including me and my passengers.

Two particular idiots actually almost hit our vehicle. They were driving their vehicles really fast and it was already dark at that time so I was unable to even get their plate numbers. I can vividly remember though that they were driving a sedan and a bus.

What happened was really dangerous. First, the sedan moved past our vehicle at breakneck speed, overtaking several vehicles on the fast lane. (We were on the second lane from the inside at that time, by the way.) Within a millisecond of the sedan passing us came this big-ass bus. I swear I almost felt my soul leaving my body as I noticed from my rear-view mirror how close that bus came to hitting the left-rear portion of our vehicle. Balahibo lang ang distansya.

From the looks of it, those two idiot drivers were engaged in a chase. I can only speculate what happened but clearly at that point the bus driver was probably so determined to get back at the driver of the sedan that he just couldn’t let the other driver go. Btw, I estimate the speed of those two idiot-driven vehicles at that time to be at least around 12o kph. What was really scary about that was that the distance of the bus from the sedan was only about three to four meters. What if the sedan were to suddenly lower its speed? The bus would have certainly rammed the sedan considering the lack of sufficient reaction and braking distance.

So am I encouraging the filing of a class action suit against our land transportation agencies because of this? I certainly am. But why? Simple lang. Our roads have become very dangerous now just judging from the number of accidents that occur on a daily basis. The impunity many Filipino drivers display is already troubling and with the way our land transportation agencies are working it seems this impunity will continue.

Our land transportation agencies have failed many times over to ensure that (a) only people who are in their right minds are given licenses to drive;  (b) professional drivers such as those in the public transport sector really know how to drive safely; (c) defects in road designs are addressed; (d) conditions or situations that contribute to the environment of recklessness on the road are eliminated (e) etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

The mere fact that on Metro Manila roads puv drivers practically control the flow of traffic and pose great risk to other motorists because of their need to earn their day’s keep within a quota system are already enough reasons to blame all these agencies. Besides, why shouldn’t we blame them? The responsibility to do whatever it takes to keep public roads safe for everyone falls on them.

A few questions running through my mind: Why is driving in the Philippines a very dangerous activity? This situation is nothing new so why has it remained unresolved? What are these agencies and the people running them doing? Are they waiting for their own relatives to fall victim to the recklessness of idiot drivers before they decide to take action?

Kung di ninyo kaya ayusin ang sistema ng transportasyon sa Pilipinas, tounge in a new magpasagasa na lang kayo! Sa pison kung pwede lang!

(this is an unedited rant. I’m too pissed to care about editing right now.)

Fortunately, a reader by the name of dvopilgrim left a comment that I thought deserves its own space not only because of its length but because it contains a number ideas worth thinking about. He left this comment on an old post of mine titled “The Root Cause of Metro Manila’s Traffic Problem.”

Jeepney: Blessing or Curse?

The jeepney had been a symbol of Filipino culture and ingenuity. Modified from surplus American jeeps to accommodate many passengers, it had been around since the end of World War II as the staple of public transportation all over the country, especially in big cities.

I admit that my frustration with Manila traffic contributed much to my thoughts in this post. But I believe that the jeepney today, instead of being the blessing that it had been in the past 60 years, has become an archaic relic of the past, an invention that had its day, and should be encased in a museum of Philippine history.

Its predominance in the highways and byways has turned from a blessing to a curse. Because of the lack of discipline, and knowledge of and obedience to traffic rules, regulations and signs, it is the main cause of the horrible Metro Manila traffic. It is the primary culprit of the noxious smog that envelops most urban areas. (How do these chimneys pass the anti-smog inspection?) Most of them have little or no insurance, and coupled with lack of discipline and knowledge, they cause many costly accidents.

The secondary problems that jeepneys cause are many: long commute hours, low-productivity, respiratory health problems, waste of gas, and corruption among traffic police and enforcers, in addition to hearing problems because of the blaring radios!

Possible Solutions

It is difficult to pinpoint one or two causes of the huge traffic problems in metro areas because there are many. But in addition to the lack of discipline among all drivers and out-of-control motorcycle and tricycle drivers, I can see two other major contributors.

The first is the number of commuters all day long because, for one thing, even the simplest transactions cannot be done by phone or online, but only in person. What can be done about this? Not much, really, until corruption and dishonesty are kept in check. Online shopping, banking and document processing are probably years, if not decades away from reality, but doable.

The second is the so-called boundary or surcharge system among bus and jeepney operators. How does this contribute to traffic congestion? Simply, in the mad scramble for passengers because their earnings depend on the number of passengers they can get in a day’s driving, drivers stop and park anywhere, even in the middle of the roads, tying up traffic.

As an engineer, I always get into a solutions mode when I see problems and think of ways to improve on how things are done—I also had experience as an industrial process engineer. It would be extremely difficult—some would say even impossible—but nothing less than a comprehensive mass transportation overhaul would suffice, beginning with government ownership. First, jeepneys should be phased out from all major roads and highways and replaced with urban mass transit such as buses and trains. Second, employees of this government-owned transport system should be salaried, which means they get paid fixed monthly salaries that are even better than what they earn today with their hard work. Third, these buses and trains should be operated according to a fixed schedule, being dispatched with frequency based on the time of day. Fourth, all buses from outside Metro Manila should be allowed only at the fringes of the metro area. Fifth, designated bus stops should be strictly enforced.

What happens to all the jeepney drivers and barkers? They would be absorbed and retrained into the mass transport system as drivers, conductors, inspectors, dispatchers, mechanics, janitors, etc. Drivers should be retrained and reprogrammed so that discipline and obedience is hardwired into their brains. The traffic enforcers, in addition, should also be paid regular fixed salaries.

One other thing that seemed to work for the MRT and LRT trains is the seating configuration. The buses could also be configured in the same way, with seats only on the sides for women, elderly and the handicapped, so that the aisles are wide maximizing the density of passengers per square meter of road. There could even be segregation of women, elderly and the handicapped from the rest of the bus, as in the trains. There should be wide doors in the front, middle and back, so the time to load and unload is minimized.

I’m sure that there are many more improvements that mass transport experts can think of to untie the big traffic mess and lessen the misery of commuters.

The above may sound like a pipe dream, but would be a small start and would only work, obviously, if corruption is minimized. The transportation czar should run the system like a business for profit, but with rules and regulations strictly enforced throughout the system.

Now the big question is where to find that honest, incorruptible transportation czar.

If I may add, more than an honest and incorruptible official, what we need is someone who has the political will to implement the necessary changes to the system.

Thanks dvopilgrim for this.

I say this because political advertisements being aired and published now are all basically saying the same things. There’s really not much difference among them. In my observation, here are some of the most glaring similarities insofar as TV ads are concerned:

1. the ads communicate the message that their candidate is a saviour of some sort
2. visual elements are mostly the same — candidates mingling with ordinary people, distraught people, poor people, etc.
3. the ads highlight at least one all-encompassing promise
4. the ads end with a cheesy slogan
5. the ads are backed by a catchy song

Advertising experts may say that with the limited allotted time — usually from 30 seconds to 1 minute — there’s hardly any room to include more substantial information therefore they just make do with using the elements enumerated above. I suspct there’s more to it than just that. I think the candidates and/or their campaign managers are just afraid to take risks and would rather just stick to tried and tested methods.

The website www.media-awareness.ca provides us with a more comprehensive list of political advertising techniques. Here it is lifted from their website:

1.  Patriotism: The ad stresses the candidate’s love of and service to his/her country.

2. Gender: The ad presents the candidate as appropriately “manly” (or feminine) to make viewers trust him/her.

3. Family: The ad uses images of ideal families to give you a positive image of the candidate.

4. Excitement: The ad tries to create a sense of energy and excitement around the candidate.

5. Star Power: A celebrity is telling you that they support the candidate.

6. Bandwagon: The ad tries to create the impression that everybody already supports the candidate.

7. Put Downs: The ad insults the candidate’s opponent.

8. Facts and Figures: The ad uses facts and statistics to support the candidate’s policies.

9. Just Folks: The ad portrays the candidate as a “regular guy” (or girl).

10. Heart Strings: The ad tells a story that makes you feel good.

11. Sounds Good: The ad uses music (with or without lyrics) to be memorable, entertaining and exciting.

12. Cartoons and Animals: The ad makes its point with cartoon characters or (usually symbolic) animals.

13. Weasel Words: The ad includes promises that sound good but lack details.

14. Integrity: The ad tries to convince you that the candidate is honest and trustworthy.

15. Fear: The ad tries to frighten you into voting for the candidate (or at least not voting for his/her opponent).

(to see the list on their website go to this link)

Entry 12, cartoons and animals, is interesting. I’m sure you can make the connection yourself, but if you ask me I’d say the word reptilian comes to mind — and chicken too. I’m actually more interested in entry number 8, facts and figures. Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t think this is a standard feature in local political ads, is it? Anyway, this leads me to the main point I’ve been making all this time: Our political candidates are all just pandering and none of them are audacious enough to add more substance to their political advertisements.

This is quite unfortunate considering that more and more people are now demanding real and useful information. I’m of course talking about detailed plans. The way I see it there is an untapped opportunity here for any candidate to set himself or herself apart from the rest. This opportunity is especially perfect for candidates who are trailing behind perception-wise. Since they’re in the lowest rungs anyway they should be willing to take more risks with how they communicate their message. Instead of the usual pandering stuff they can come out with truly informative ads.

Runnning time a limitation? No problem. Just follow the format used for those one-minuter radio or TV reports. An example would be an ad featuring just the candidate talking about one specific issue and providing some specifics on exactly how he/she plans to address it.

Senator Noynoy Aquino’s “Hindi Ako Mag-Nanakaw” ad shows us that one can already say a lot of things in a one-minuter ad. Unfortunately, substance-wise it does not make the grade. Fortunately, this is easy to fix. Simply removing all the pandering stuff and keeping the focus on just one particular issue would easily do the trick.

Candidates, especially those who are lagging behind, should seriously consider this approach. In terms of cost, information-filled ads like the one I’m suggesting will obviously cost much less. The budget deprived can even create one just using a webcam and uploading the end-product on the internet. If the message is really good, the ad may even go viral.