Friendly Observer
Arthur Keefe
Arthur Keefe
Here we are again
It's good to look back in San Carlos. After an absence of 4 months, one of my friends immediately asked me to include the following in my next article, so here goes: Why can't the noisy motorbikes be controlled? Why is the stock in Gaisano supermarket so erratic? Why does the ethanol plant still emit dust and smell? So no surprise there! I could add to the list of inaction by government. Why do the landowners still burn off the remnants of their sugar crop (breaking the law)? Why have the pedestrian crossing and road markings still newly disappeared? Why the traffic enforcers also disappeared at the most dangerous lines (i.e. when the road is wet and raining)?
Again, no surprise here, it is a surprise that a City with such enforcement of such basic actions for health and safety, should have to check to enter a competition for the most livable city in the world, and even more preposterous that they should nearly win!
Of course there are many attractive features to life in San Carlos, and it is no accident that many retirees from home and abroad choose to live here. The issue is that with simple low cost actions by government, it could be even more so. One foreigner, whom I asked, why he chooses to, live here, replied that he like its lawlessness. Well I and many residents do not! We want more regulation of anti social behavior, more enforcement of the offer good laws we have (such as the clean air act). Perhaps, this man coming from heavily regulated country (Canada) is reacting against that, but there is a medium which combines personal freedoms with communitarian value of respect and consideration.
Another matter pleases me. It is the start of concreting of the road towards Sitio Tunga, behind the National High School. The fact that we have lobbied for this action for years, as over a thousand people use this muddy track to get to school, market, work etc. is not unfortunately why it has been started. It is being done now, because it will be an access road to the New City Hospital at Sta. Anna.
The needs of many poor people count for little it seems, but support for a (welcome) city project quickly produces the road. The section will not reach Tunga or Bati, or the other hamlets, it is the start. The problem now, is that the sign stating "Men at Work" seems to be misnomer. In 10 days since I arrived, I have yet to see any men at work. True there are shelter where a group of men appear to sit whenever I pass, and time I occasionally see some stones have moved a little, " work" no. It is a puzzle. It is a rest camp for people recovering from the illness? Is it a kind of social club for those with little to do? Maybe it is a place to earn payback for political loyalties. I hope not. Perhaps having gone without a road for so long, we should not be churlish that only a short section on one side has been concreted. The other will follow- I assume. Finally, in these rather instant reflections following my return, let me offer a brief comment on the Corona issue.
It is hard to see how a court of elected politicians can act as an impartial and fair body to try anybody. If the senators were acting scrupulously and with due process to establish the truth without bias, then their might be acceptable.
Corona may well be guilty of amusing, ill-gotten wealth. The problem is that those behind the impeachment charges have already made their minds up. The president, who should not interfere in a judicial process, is acting as a cheerleader for the prosecution. The midnight appointment as Chief Justice tarnished him from the outset, but the fault there was Arroyo's and her friends, not Corona himself who merely accepted the office.
Even the verdict is unlikely to depend on the case heard in the senate, but rather will reflect the political loyalties of the 24 senators who will have to vote. Not a very distinguished way to wage a war against corruption.
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