(Originally published in the April 1-7, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---
a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---
by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)
“THE traffic situation in Baguio has contributed a lot to the congestion,” former City Architect and Urban Planner Joseph Alabanza said.
Speaking during last week’s Kapihan at the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Cordillera regional offices, Alabanza said congestion, strain and discomfort are slowly taking their toll on the people.
“All of us have tried very tight driving situations, pollution; we have a big problem in terms of air pollution in the downtown area,” he said.
“We become irritable,” he said. “That is the side-effect of congestion; it causes stress and sometimes what is called road rage”.
Road rage is an aggressive or angry behavior by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle. Such behavior might include generally aggressive driving, including sudden acceleration, braking, and close tailgating; cutting others off in a lane, or deliberately preventing someone from merging, chasing other motorists; flashing lights and/or sounding the horn excessively; yelling or exhibiting disruptive behavior at roadside establishments; rude gestures (such as “the finger”); shouting verbal abuses, insults or threats; assaulting other motorists, their passengers, cyclists or pedestrians; exiting the car to attempt to start confrontations, including striking other vehicles with an object; threatening to use or using a firearm or other deadly weapon.
High-profile road rage incidents include the Raul Bautista and Sowaib Salie case which happened in Imus, Cavite and turned into a deadly family feud as it left 6 people dead. The trouble started at a traffic jam as Sowaib Salie repeatedly honked his vehicle's horns at the car in front driven by Raul Bautista. A confrontation erupted when both motorists arrived at the public market. Bautista then left the scene only to come back later with reinforcement in tow. A brief and quick firefight erupted leaving six people dead, including Bautista, his two sons and the family driver, and Salie and his fellow trader Mahmod Sultan.
On July 2, 1991, 25-year-old Eldon Maguan, a De La Salle University engineering student, was driving his car down a one-way street in San Juan and nearly collided with Rolito Go's vehicle, which was traveling the wrong way. The businessman got off his car and shot Maguan, who died a few days later. Go was convicted of murder "in absentia" in 1993 by the Pasig Regional Trial Court as he was in hiding after he escaped from the Rizal Provincial Jail a few days before the sentencing. Go was finally caught in 1996 in Pampanga and then served his life imprisonment sentence at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa. Go was transferred from the prison’s maximum security facility to the minimum security area later, allowing him to walk around the facility without security escorts.
The Feliber Andres and Inocencio Gonzales. The Andres family's 1998 All Saints' Day eve pilgrimage to the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina took a ghastly turn when their vehicle nearly collided with the one driven by Inocencio Gonzalez. Noel Andres tailed Gonzalez' vehicle first before he cut his path which resulted in a confrontation between the two motorists. In the heat of the argument, Gonzalez pulled out a gun and shot at the Andres' vehicle, hitting Andres' pregnant wife, Feliber, their two-year old son, and their nephew. Feliber did not survive the attack but the doctors were able to save her baby. The son and the nephew were discharged from the hospital a few days later. Gonzalez was found guilty of murder and two counts of frustrated murder in 1999. The Supreme Court then modified the trial court’s decision in 2001, finding him guilty of homicide.
On January 10, 2003, Jay Llamas was traversing the busy northbound lane of Taft Avenue in Manila when his Toyota Corolla was bumped by a motorcycle as they neared the Buendia intersection. Llamas and the motorcycle driver got into a heated argument which ended when the suspect drew a gun and shot Llamas at close range three times --- twice in the head and once in the body. The suspect then hailed a parked tricycle and fled the scene.
On October 2, 2007, Edgardo Canizares was traveling with a passenger along Gen. Roxas Street near the corner of Shaw Boulevard when his Nissan Cefiro almost hit the car of Manuel Hernandez Jr., a Pasig City Hall legal officer and nephew of a Sandiganbayan Justice. Hernandez was reportedly driving against the flow of traffic, prompting an angry Canizares to get out of his car and insult Hernandez. Hernandez pulled out a gun and shot Canizares four times and his passenger, twice. Homicide charges were filed against Hernandez but he was freed after posting an P80,000 bail.
Meanwhile, Alabanza said it is very critical to identify the interconnectedness between Baguio and its neighboring municipalities. “We have to grow together into the future in time and in space,” he said. “Let us look beyond borders; beyond political boundaries and let us look beyond time, not only now but into the future.”
According to him, there are a lot of changes going on “and we only reflect when it is already there”.
“We should be pro-active,” he said. “If we make a decision now, are we evaluating its effect into the future? It is possible that we may have decisions now but it will destroy our future.”
"The solution may be now but how will it affect the future?," he asked.*
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