The GMA-BF Pink Magic Show
Written on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 7:31 pm | by Patricio MangubatI agree with Schumey about MMDA Bayani Fernando. He’s all pomp and no show. He’s your average joker, the kind that you want to throw rotten tomatoes except that you can’t ‘cos tomatoes nowadays are too expensive to even spend just for him.
Here’s the thing though–despite what we think about him, he’s not going to turn around and say that he’s wrong. Nah. He’s too proud and too callous to do that. That’s why a few months back, I’ve been calling for anti-Gloria groups to wage war against him. Why?
Because BF has turned into a symbol of this decrepit regime. He’s Gloria’s major propagandist. He’s the one who directly implements the dragonian measures this regime wants to force down our throats.
BF is your civilian counterpart of a Palparan. They both think they’re gods.
However, it’s a waste of time talking about him, because the more we write about him, the more he’ll think of other crazy and expensive ways to offend public sensitivities. Why?
Its the most effective way to deflect public attention from the corruption, the filth and the ineffectiveness of this administration. While we’re talking about his “Gwapo” posters, we forget to spend time writing about these expensive steel bridges he’s building around the Metro. We forget the mostrous traffic jams we experience everyday due to his ramps and we forget that his concrete barriers have been the cause of deaths and injury of a hundred motorists.
Those Gwapo posters are not meant for 2010. No. BF knows he’ll not stand a chance against a Cheez Escudero. These posters are perfect subterfuges to hide the flaws and sickening cancer of this decrepit system.
The solution? Let’s organize a citizen’s movement and tear down those posters a.s.a.p. That’s a symbolic act which will show this administration that the people has had enough of this nonsense.
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20 Responses to “The GMA-BF Pink Magic Show”
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I’m not really sure if BF’s programs made matters worse in Metro Manila. What I know is that there isn’t a significant increase in the volume of traffic since five years ago. And that’s an achievement for MMDA, considering that the number of vehicles has risen since five years ago.
I’m not a fan of BF’s posters, actually. And I agree with Nightdreamer. Those pink things around the Metro are eyesores.
But I’m willing to give BF a benefit of the doubt.
Aren’t there proper channels for doing this? If we do things this way, we merely stoop to that level and never learn how to work with a system.
I agree that the general ugliness of Manila is an issue (true to my usual form, I believe it is fundamentally about a lack of common aesthetic sensibilities in Pinoy culture). But there are ways to correct this without resorting to anarchic antics.
I like what he is doing. The clearings of roads, of squatters, of vendors, of U-turns, of anything that no one dared to task or no one has minds and visions of. What he is doing separates the boys from the right thinking citizens. And he has the guts to use pinks and large pictures of himself. At least he absorbs the heat and stresses of envious people with those.
Toootototoot. Lots of chest beating and trumpet blaring there, Patricio.
But WHAT will YOU do to alleviate the traffic situation of the Metro? Seriously? Tear down those overpasses so that people will cross EDSA, where the roads are? Remove those gawdawful pink fences, so your beloved pedestrians can wait for their buses off of the sidewalk, right in the middle of the road, and cross ANYWHERE whether there’s an intersection or not? Remove those bus stops, so that the buses will have a free rein lording it over all 4 lanes of EDSA and stopping wherever they want?
I agree that we have to tear down his posters, sure. But undo everything else, and let’s see YOU find a way to discipline the average Manila bus and jeepney driver. Because every person who has ever driven the Metro before BF came in and tried concrete steps in improving the situation, experimenting with various schemes, will tell you how it was much much worse back then even if the volume of cars 10 years ago was probably half of what we have today.
i must agree with Jon Limjap, kahit papaano, nakaganda rin ang pamamalakad ni BF sa MMDA. Tinuturuan nito (o binibigyan ng limitasyon ang mga mamamayan) sa dapat nitong iasal sa lansangan. Hindi kasi talaga natin mapilit ang mga tao na sumunod kung walang magpapasunod. Ang hindi lang talaga maganda sa ginagawa ni BF ay ang pamumudmod niya ng mga posters niya ngayong nakababanas sa mata sa lansangan. Nakakaasar talaga! Well, kahit gaano man kaayos ang nagawa niya sa MMDA, kung tatakbo man siya, marami pa siyang dapat patunayan sa akin (o para na rin sa marami) na karapat-dapat siya sa boto ko.
http://hiraya.co.nr
Thanks Jon. I’m not an expert urban planner nor do I claim to have an interest in BF’s post. I would recommend some people though to replace him in MMDA, if the situation does occur. I don’t claim to be an expert. I just experience these traffic jams and surely, you don’t need to be an expert in traffic management to notice that it’s not working.
Sure, he’s a hardworker. Maybe, he did instituted those measures that curbed traffic.
But, that’s not the point of the article. The point is, BF, I think, is a symbol of anti-democracy in this country. He’s your 21st century Gestapo head, using tactics that hide his flaws and MMDA corruption.
Our times are like those during Martial law, where we don’t see what Marcos and his family are doing right inside the palace because we’re busy being entertained by those “Disiplina ang kailangan” posters and those “Maganda and Makisig” type of propaganda.
All I’m saying is–enough is enough. BF should pay for those posters. It’s our money and we have the right to tear them down. How much are those Gwapo posters? Its considerable, I guess. As a taxpayer, I have the right to also express myself like BF. I am aghast at his face and since I live in a democratic country, I have the right to do what I please for as long as it will not violate the rights of others.
Why would it be illegal, my friend Benigno? Are those posters government property? If it’s art, which surely it is not, then, we, citizens have the right to tear them down.
If those posters are MMDA property as they claim to own it, then, all the more that we must demand accountability. Who ordered those posters? Why was public money used to produce those stupid posters?
I am reminded of my wife who hated my stupid pictures and the pink polo I bought on a Valentines day when she was out of town. I should have warned BF that there are people who think like my wife. A woman’s or a third instinct?
In spite of everything, what BF has is political will. What he did in Marikina took a lot gumption and a lot of residents there really feel that they are better off under Fernando’s administration (BF and Maridez). I hear that the problem is that BF is now so bilib sa sarili that he does not entertain other ideas. Sayang. If an alliance between MMDA and say, the UP Traffic Engineering Center could be forged, BF could implement better programs for MM, and EDSA in particular.
Jon, what can we do to alleviate the traffic situation, seriously? Please consider this: scrap the boundary system. I think this is the reason why you have undisciplined drivers. Everyone is just trying to make a living under the boundary system. If you have drivers getting a fixed living salary, you will probably have less chaos in the streets. Sure, it’s not as simple as this since it will create some other problems but I think this idea is worth considering.
There’s street design as well. In Manila, lanes suddenly end or start don’t merge together or diverge properly. Generally you can’t trust lanes. And a lot of the discipline required to make traffic flow smoothly is based on motorists’ TRUST that if they stick to the proper lane, they will get to where they need to go.
So it’s not just about discipline, it’s about SYSTEMS THINKING. Traffic is a system that encompasses motorists, signalling, signage, and STREET DESIGN.
If we don’t have a whollistic and SYSTEMIC approach to thinking, then we end up with the no results society that we see today.
Note how all roads lead back to that function that the blob between the ears does best.
I would give BF the benefit of the doubt of how he wants to design Metro Manila.
I won’t give him the benefit of being Big Brother. Those posters have to come down.
Patricio,
Again, I agree that the posters are utterly wrong. That he tear them down and be held accountable for using MMDA funds for such propaganda is all but apt.
And I’m not too worried about all the pink and blue. Those paints will fade and need repainting anyway, and when that time comes it’s easy to wash it over with another color, just as long as its the drab white that previous administrations used, which only made the things fade much faster due to all the pollution.
As for making the boundary system illegal — surprise surprise, the MMDA can’t do anything about that. They aren’t supposed to have legislative powers right? So the only people who can change those systems are in Congress. If your local district congressman is not an absentee, then maybe we can have this bill filed. Then wait for 6 years. Rinse, repeat.
Oh what else can we do… Make multiple car ownership illegal? Regulate the number of vehicles entering the country? Repave the entire Metro? All of these require legislation, a huge budget and political will, none of which is in the scope of MMDA’s mandate, nor is for all intents and purposes practical and realistic.
Of course there’s also the fact that, for any sufficiently large Metropolis, no amount of good road design will alleviate the traffic situation. You can see that in both Tokyo and New York. If there’s just too many cars out there, even having the best public transport systems and the best roads won’t work. Any improvement you’d try will work for, another 5 years or so. And then there are more cars still.
That’s true Jon, for Tokyo and the rest. But taken on a vehicle per road-mile basis, the roads in those cities can handle more throughput than Manila roads — i.e. for each mile of road built, more vehicles can be handled in those advanced cities than each mile of road built in Manila.
I don’t know how many engineers there are in this forum, but it’s kind of like the difference between laminar flow and turbulent flow in hydraulics. Manila traffic is turbulent flow (cars keep shifting lanes as they run through the road). Fixing lane design can potentially make the flow more laminar (less lane changes).
This increases throughput capacity without having to widen a road.
Of course it’s all too hard — specially for a society that is haemorraging engineers every year.
benign0,
The irony there, of course, was that Highway 54, aka EDSA, was designed and executed by American engineers. Sad part was that they did it during the 50s and it was designed to hold up to 15,000 cars per day.
I think it holds 10 times that amount by now.
There have been examples of successful road-improvement projects around Manila, e.g., the North Luzon Expressway is now at least a modern freeway, (radar speed enforcement, partial automation and all) and South Luzon Expressway is currently undergoing a second facelift (out of envy of the NLEX, I presume) and I believe these roads at least prove that the country is not devoid of engineering skills for such things.
Problem becomes the old city — the lost cause. The urbancreep that has spread as far as Cavite and Laguna to the south and Bulacan to the north is a hodgepodge of catastrophic mistakes for the sake of housing and development (e.g., subdivisions designed for medium to high density residential projects sprouting around areas serviced only by 2-lane secondary roads or tertiary roads that were once-upon-a-time the “pilapil” of some rice paddy) and just really made things worse. I’m not sure if we could repave such monstrous atrocities anymore.
My question becomes: how did old cities like Rome, London and Paris cope with this situation, given the fact that their streets are just as narrow and crowded and have the same agricultural origins?
Jon, part of the answer with Rome, London and Paris has a well-developed public transport system. Also, they typically use smaller cars (remember the car chase through Paris by Jason Bourne in Bourne Identity?), none of that American-style SUV nonsense. Also, they have high road usage taxes/fees (which i think resulted in the recent electoral loss of the previous London Mayor) in busy districts (Singapore has that as well). In his blog, Jego also mentions that in Denmark, the use of bikes is very popular. I think it also helps that diesel/gasoline is more than twice as expensive in Europe than in the Philippines (again because of taxes).
cvj,
Hmmm, I wonder, does that mean that taxing gasoline is, as opposed to how populist organizations dub it, actually beneficial?
As for small cars… the challenge, ironically, is the large family sizes of the Philippines, prompting those who can afford to buy vans, and those who can’t to buy jeeps and asian utility vehicles whether manufactured by established companies or hand-forged in the metal presses of Cavite.
So it boils down to the well-developed public transport system. Our transport system is nothing short of laissez-faire, and rail systems that have all been present during Marcos’s time (e.g., LRT 1, 2, MRT have all been proposed back then right?) have yet to be completely implemented, but even as we speak are already overloaded.
I wonder if I will reach the day to see them all come true.
Jon, i think taxing gasoline and road usage tax schemes in the European (or even Singaporean) context is beneficial. Over here, the likelihood of it going to its intended use is, to put it charitably, a matter of contention. More importantly i think, over here, more livelihoods [aka survival] depend on the price of gasoline and we don’t have the corresponding social safety nets found in Europe. As always, context matters, specifically inequality.
Now we are all talking!
This is what I like about Filipinovoices. Jon, Benigno and the rest of us are all contributing bright, innovative ideas as an alternative to the present system. We write the problem and we talk about the solutions!
Kudos to all my colleagues here in FilipinoVoices.com. We’re better than columnists, in the sense that, we can always and possibly arrive at a consensus. A salute to Nick for that progressive and forward-looking attitude.
We got our independence fr. USA on the premise that we are ready to run or manage a country.No way PALPAK ang mga gagong Pinoy na Nationalist KUNO:EX:Rail Road fr. Bicol to Pangasinan was very efficient.This covers practically South, Met. Mla. to North Luzon.Ano ang nangyari after the turn over of USA.Nagsara ang PNR. Mismanagement.LRT,MRT,Putol Putol,malakas mag lobby ang Japan, ayaw nila na ma phase out ang jeepneys na ang engine ay surplus fr. Japan.3′rd world tapunan ng surplus.Metro Transit Bus nag sara.Mismgt. again.Open ang franchise no limit pati kulorom na bus.[mismgt.] Kung ayaw nyo kay Bayani Fernando ,Bigay na lang PINAS sa Hapon or USA.
Yes, BF may be electioneering…but ask yourself if you’ve been as irritated with other politicians - even in the past. Posters are not the issue here anymore. Between politicians that had pre-election posters - and I may guess you’ve voted for one of them in the past - I’d rather pick BF because there is positive results in his action.
How about those senators calling all those hearings in the Senate calling them “in aid of legislation” but the real motive is only for “papogi” in the media. Net cost at Net effect, I’d rather tolerate BF’s posters.
OK, you may organize a citizen’s movement to bring down those posters but be sure you also do something as heroic as what BF is doing for Metro Manila.