In order to help the present administration ride over the people's creeping distrust, let us present some suggestions that will move employees to focus their attention on the real problems besetting us.
1. Building permit officers should not only approve building plans on paper, but also conduct interviews on whether the residents in the area approve of the plans. For example, in our subdivision, the rule was that only 4 to 5 floor high buildings should be built. But right now, many buildings reach as high as 8 floors, 7 floors livable and the 8th probably a party venue.
Anyway, they are enjoying the time of their life at our expense who have to suffer -- lack of sunshine in the morning, no more breezy terraces because the building has covered that part where the wind usually blows; no more sight of the dawn, sunset, the moon, whichever direction the building is covering.
2. When the government builds the skyway, the same thing should happen. Before a skyway, or much less a road is built, there should be a barangay assembly, complete with written invitations, signed as received by the residents and attended by them. Should they be absent, then they should explain why. The meeting should be announced in written form and through tarpaulins per street. The purok leader should take charge of these.
Right now, the Skyway going up north is covering the street of Araneta Avenue. Would you believe Folks that in some parts, the bridge or its pillar is only a few meters away from the windows of the buildings on both sides?
During the construction of the MRT 3, I complained to the office of Mayor Estrada, and the Supreme Court about its coverage. Later I had been told by one of the engineers that because of my letters, they had had to redesign the whole thing. Thus you can see the fruits of that labor, Folks. The MRT3 is not so invasive of our view of the sky, does not hug the streets so that below the tracks would be too dark; and the beauty of Legarda street has been partially reserved as it winds its way at the back of some houses, leading to San Beda College.
I think that is what you call responsiveness of the government to rational bases of the complaints of mine. I will try to upload that in the future if I find the document again.
3. When approving businesses, especially food vending, the local government units should require hygiene workshops for the workers in the stalls. They should also make the owners of the businesses learn how to deal with complaints, to reply to complaints in a courteous manner, to keep everything in writing and to give the business permits office a copy of how they have acted on such complaints.
4. When allowing the raising of rentals, business permit offices must rein in extreme increases. For example, I noticed way back in the early millenium, that the music stores were slowly disapppearing one by one. Yamaha I can only visit in Makati. RJ Music Store only at Robinsons. Lyric is still around with two shops, one in Horseshoe Drive and another at the Araneta Center.
However, I rue the disappearance of bookstores most of all. Popular Bookstore left Doroteo Jose and settled down at Tomas Morato Avenue. Bookmark left Escolta and Timog permanently. I don't see them at all. Alemars is truly gone. Goodwill Bookstore at Glorietta is also gone.
Folks correct e please if something is missing or incorrect in my data. I am writing this based on my personal experience of visiting these stores.
I think the effect of losing our music and bookstores is what I would call de-culturalization of the people. Our society is no longer enhancing the cultural values of the people -- that need to deal with the finer things of life like art which could make them value humanity and to deal with expanding their knowledge through reading books. Instead, the stores that proliferate are those engaging them to deal with their highly individualistic lifestyles -- clothing, restaurant and food catering, sports equipment, celphones and other gadgets, etcetera, etcetera.
MetroManila should be known as a beautiful metropolis that caters to all the aspects of human and social life and not a truncated fascination with hedonistic desires and pleasures. I am suggesting to MMDA to raise the quality of their standards for developing and improving our urban life and not rest contented by continuing the past administrations' pitfalls of creating us into zombies of the world -- moving about from pleasure to pleasure not knowing what the ultimate pursuit of life should be.
5. When building roads and sidewalks, construction companies should not be allowed to go their merry way. They should inform the people who will be affected by their diggings, how long the disturbance shall be. At UP, in front of the Church of the Risen Lord, the DPWH allowed the company to dig the street and the sidewalk to prepare it to be cemented. Thus this caused the worshippers to go around the block just to enter the Church. Is this the way, the DPWH exercises religious tolerance? It does not seem to understand what it means.
Thus, I called up the UP Police to tell them (as it was a Sunday and the admin happens to be closed at that time) to control the movements of these diggers and not allow them to treat the students, the faculty, the whole academic community in that boorish way., I don't know if something happened at all because the last time I was there, I still had great difficulty entering and exiting from CRL where I am a choir member.
The greatest disorder is that the construction companies more often than not, work even in the middle of the night disturbing our sleep by the rattling of the concrete mixers, or thebuse of backhoes to remove the old concrete road.
I wonder if the DENR knows all of these at all.
6. When a construction is being done, the workers sleep in the site. And what happens afterwards? At night, they have drinking sprees and music loudly blaring in the wee hours of the night.
At one point, in my frustration from the noise, I had had to call the police at Camp Karingal to tell off these workers to stop creating that noise. Luckily, the problem got solved. But one day, when I passed by the gate of that construction site, all the male workers were there staring at me and possibly laughing at what I had done.
I think air pollution is not really understood as a bad thing, except when it is smoke coming from smoke belchers. Noise pollution is hardly minded at all. We really need a good environmental education regarding all these matters.
7. Worst of all, when there are buildings being constructed, painting is done towards the end and the smell of the varnish and all other paints permeate the streets where the people pass by. There is no move at all to shield the people outside from the pernicious smell of chemicals.
I wonder if the DENR is aware of these at all.
To whom should we go when this happens? The barangay is saddled with too many problems already.
Should we call on shamans to help us move the government to make it more responsive? If the Marawi siege was immediately attended to, I am sure the next things that will follow would be to strengthen the whole executive department already.
(A shaman is someone who is regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enters into a trance state during a ritual, and practices divination and healing.)
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