Traffic in Malolos City is Becoming a Nightmare

(Photo: for illustration only)

Christmas is just around the corner. In this month alone, Puregold Jr and Robinsons Place Malolos have opened their doors for your early Christmas shopping.

Yes you've read that right. A second Puregold and a second Robinsons are the newest outlet malls/supermarkets in the city and they're now open for business. BUT if you're thinking of driving to these places, you'll have a lot of traffic to deal with.

Let's take Robinsons Place Malolos as an example. Being the biggest mall in the area, it is expected to draw tens of hundreds if not thousands of people every day especially during weekends. On it's opening day, With all shoppers coming in from different places and neighboring towns, it did not take long for the traffic to become a real issue. 

At least a dozen officers (security guards and traffic enforcers) tried their best to help keep shoppers and motorists moving but their efforts proved almost futile. As expected, driving on the roads leading to the malls is a nighmare. You may find some options by taking detours to avoid heavily tangled traffic but this is not only inconvenient but also increases your commute time and that is very upsetting.

Besides the unruly traffic, i noticed that no safe U-Turn slots were installed at both ends of the baricade fronting the mall. Oddly, there were no traffic lights or traffic officers stationed to assist motorists making a U-turn on a national highway. On the part of pedestrians and shoppers taking the public transport, a footbridge should have been placed to allow them safe crossing of the deadly Mc Arthur Highway. The next thing that i noticed is- the way going to Malolos Club Royale Resort was not spared by the newly installed road-fence. The ingress or passageway to this resort/hotel was blocked... so, in order to go there or depart from it, you have to make a suicidal U-turn on either ends of the roadblock.

I hope that with these recent developments and economic progress of Malolos, the local Police’s Traffic management office together with the City Planning and Development Office and in cahoots with the management of the malls, would do something fast to address these traffic issues. Note that most of the Malls and Supermarkets in the city are erected parallel to the National Highway so they must design a clever scheme or scheme a clever design so as not to Cause so much traffic on the roads leading to these malls/supermarkets. 

I further hope that the city government and the malls' administration will get the situation figured out so the motorists can return to using the National Highway conveniently and get to their homes faster. 

Truly, Malolos is progressing and developing into a highly urbanized city. We should all have a fair share of not only the sound benefits therefrom but also of the adverse effects of getting it industrialised. Make Malolos a great city but not at the expense of the motorists and road safety.

Happy Holidays!

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kuyanin

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Word Wars in the Government

A lot has been going on these past days. You wink twice and little did you know, something has already changed in the present administration's cabinet. Recently, the Chief of the Bureau of customs bade his office goodbye, Communication Secretary Ricky Carandang tendered his resignation etcetera etcetera. The nonstop word war between Senators Mirriam Defensor and Juan Ponce Enrile is also alarming.

But nothing is more disturbing than Mar Roxas' word fight against Mayor Romualdez - a fight which i am inclined to believe that Romualdez is winning. It may be recalled that (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas reportedly said to Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez during a meeting at the height of the disaster caused by Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) that "You have to be very careful, you're a Romualdez and the President is an Aquino".

Allegedly, this happened when Sec. Roxas was requiring Mayor Romualdez to sign a letter stating among others that he can no longer perform his duties and functions as the highest official in Tacloban City. Mayor Romualdez however did not heed to Sec Roxas' directive as he was adviced by his lawyers that the letter could be utilized against him as it may be interpreted as a resignation letter. Roxas allegedly added that the said letter is necessary before the national government could step in to help in the search and rescue operation in the most badly-hit part of the region. 

One local website has this to say:

What’s in a name anyway? To Roxas, it is everything. He was just short of saying that it was tough luck for the people of Tacloban City that their Mayor is associated with the Marcoses. It’s is quite baffling why Roxas would bring up old wounds during a crisis meeting while lives were still at risk outside of the meeting room. It’s as if the Aquino allies have not moved on from the Marcos years even when they are already in power. It seems Roxas takes things very personal. This is a sign that he is a vindictive person. It is a sign that he is not of sound mind to be in any government position.

If these reports are all true, reviving the issue about the Marcoses/Romualdez and the Aquinos, Secretary Roxas is vainly seeking to breathe life into the carcass of a long dead issue. 

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kuyanin

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Lawyers-Turned-Novelists

Lawyers have always been great storytellers.  A trial is but a story of conflict between two parties. Law schools teach budding trial lawyers to use the elements of storytelling to persuade judges. The technique is, first, you must have a theme, we are told. The theme should be simply stated. Example in a car accident case, something like, “one careless moment can cause a lifetime of being”. The lawyer should reinforce this theme throughout the trial from pre-trial until drafting of memorandum. Judges may not remember the details of a case but they will keep in mind “the” theme.

Other story telling techniques are used in the prefatory statement usually in your initiatory pleadings. The lawyer must tell the judge what he believes the evidence will show. To be effective, this preview of the trial should hook the judge right away, just as the first chapter of a novel should make the reader want to keep turning the pages. An effective opening/prefatory statement not only will make the judge want to know more about the case, but should also persuade the judge to the lawyer’s position. But this must be done carefully, not by arguing the position, which is reserved for the closing, but by structuring information in a subtle yet convincing way. Certain facts must be presented in any trial (and in any novel). But in what order do you present them? What “spin” do you put on those facts? The trial lawyer should not discuss everything in his prefatory statement. There has to be some information the judge is not told. The lawyer must whet, not satiate, the judge’s appetite.

The lawyer must also care about the client just as readers must care about a writer’s protagonist. To care, a lawyer must know certain details about the client’s background. What kind of person is the client? What life experiences has he or she had that will move the judge to empathize with the client? The lawyer can bring out this information from different witnesses, emphasizing those facts that will reinforce the theme. If the judge buys the theme and empathizes with the client, then the lawyer is more likely to get a favorable verdict.

Even the parallels between trials and storytelling, it should not be surprising that so many lawyers have turned to fiction writing. What is surprising is the breadth and quality of the writing. There are a lot of lawyers who have made the transition from law to literature. Some, like John Grisham (one of my personal favorite authors), Stephen Murphy and Scott Turow, have become household names. Others, like Richard Dooling and Louis Begley, have received literary acclaim without becoming mainstays on the bestseller lists.

I have been constantly amazed at the growth of legal fiction as well as the number of lawyers who have published novels. I thought i knew of all the lawyer-authors. But on occasion I’d spend an hour browsing in the new fiction section of local bookstores, and pick out one or two new ones every time, i realized i would never exhaust the supply.

I pay great respect and admiration to all of you lawyer-authors. May the Force be with you! :D

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kuyanin

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