PARANAQUE Rep. Roilo Golez has suggested quite bluntly only recently that Bayani Fernando, the eccentric chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), must be "hallucinating" most of the time.
Golez says Fernando is hallucinating when he says his "Metro Gwapo" project is working wonders on the aesthetic appearance of the metropolis, and that many residents have shown discipline as a result of the MMDA's various projects. Apparently, what got Golez's ire was Fernando 's announcement that the MMDA would carry out more projects (as if the public didn't have enough of them) that would constitute the finishing touches to his Metro Gwapo project.
Golez, who has called for an investigation of MMDA activities, went on record to say this: "Bayani is hallucinating. instead of Metro Gwapo, Bayani made the metropolis baduy with his ugly, incongruous pink road signs, fences, foot bridges and urinals that violate international standards."
The term baduy, I believe, is sward talk for something like hilariously wacky, out of place or downright corny.
Ask me and I'd dare say Femando's favorite hue (old rose) comes across as rather effeminate (without intending it as a slur to the third sex, of course). Come on, folks. Can I help it if I was raised to associate pastel blue with baby boys and any shade of pink with delicate femininity? And pink happens to be Femando's favorite, his "signature" color.
Golez also suggests that Fernando is similarly out of touch with reality in thinking he would emerge as "the chosen one" or the standard bearer of the Lakas party for the presidential election in 2010.
I'd say it could be something more serious. Like delirium tremens, if not dementia praecox, perhaps? When one as widely derided as Fernando actually thinks he is God's gift to the Filipino people, something must be really a miss. Golez has expressed the futile wish that Fernando would win the Lakas nomination "so he can see for himself in actual votes how unpopular he really is."
If you go by the surveys, Fernando is faring quite dismally. He has been getting insignificant near-zero ratings in all of them. In short, he'll never make it.
Poor Fernando, he seems tuned in to a totally different wavelength, probably to a Higher Voice that tells him he is destined to be this imperfect nation's savior.
Meanwhile, let's hear what others have to say about him in their blogs and e-mail messages to this column.
First, a few of the reactions on the MMDA's pink-color scheme, culled from "MMDA complaints on the ABS-CBN forum."
Comments from crazykeyboard:
"What is this 'pink' thing anyway? Is this Bayani's way of symbolizing his performance and projects? Why pink? Does this paint have special coating or reflectors in it? I'm trying to find sense. If the purpose is beauty or recognition why not include additives? Hey, it's your money, people. Get used to it!"
On Bayani's penchant for pink:
"OK na sana eh if not for the PINK. This color is in stark contrast to its surroundings. There are standard colors for public structures. Refer to Australian Council Standards or American Public Works Standards.This should not be left to the whim of the office holder.
"Pa'no kung' yung successor nya gusto naman eh orange? Tapos green? Maybe even psychedelic! Wtf!"
From Caselyn Lopez Gojo from Marikina City (which was sent by e-mail only yesterday):
"I have been following with interest your criticisms of Chairman Fernando. I, being a true-blooded Marikeña, whole heartedly agree with most of what you have written so far about him.
One big headache for all who live and visit Marikina is the traffic along A. Bonifacio Street, a major avenue you must pass to enter Marikina's inner city. Every afternoon [up] to late in the night, commuters and car owners have to endure an hour of traffic for a 3.5-kilometer destination to their own homes.
"Why so? Because of the Fernandos protecting their shopping mall's interest. PUJs [public utility jeepneys] are even allowed to pick up and drop passengers, wait for their vehicles to get full, along A. Bonifacio Avenue [which is only a two-lane street going toward Marikina, and also two-lane going to Quezon City] again beside the Riverbanks Mall, which makes it a lot more difficult to get through.
"What's disturbing is that the self-proclaimed Traffic Czar and his wife, who have been throwing all their support and resources to that piece of property where the Riverbanks Mall stands at the expense of weary commuters, reportedly acquired that piece of property from the Ang family [Universal Textile Mills or Utex], under very suspicious circumstances. The Angs were allegedly forced to sell after the city government continuously harassed them with imagined violations and fees and all sorts of penalties and taxes. Unable to stand the harassment any longer, the Angs eventually sold the strategically located property at a price way below its market value."
Then there was this motorcycle rider who was accosted by a motorcycle riding traffic enforcer at a stoplight. The rider had no helmet on, but the enforcer tells him off and points out that if there is anybody to be apprehended, it should be the enforcer. To which the MMDA man said, "'Di hulihin mo 'ko!"
Finding it a useless exercise, our hero , sped off when the light turned green, but not before giving the enforcer the dirty finger.
From rosaaliamendoza.blog.friendster.com:
"Who likes the MMDA? I have not met a single MMDA fan.Only a schmuck would be one. The MMDA is an unbelievably ridiculous government agency. Especially when the Supreme Court ruled that its acts were ultra vires.... Its charter does not grant it any significant powers. The task of managing traffic in Metro Manila does not allow it to issue any traffic-violation tickets unless the local government unit where the traffic aides are assigned allows them to do so. After the SC decision came out, the MMDA became a cash cow. It had a hefty government budget, but it doesn't have anything to spend it on since they're allowed to do almost nothing!
"But of course, it's unbelievably ridiculous chairman would not allow the MMDA budget to go stale. He invents stupid ways to spend the money.
"The thin cement islands on the Edsa bus stops [particularly on Magallanes and Ayala] are just downright stupid. I don't even know where he got the idea that such things would work to ease traffic. Nakita n'ya ba kung anong klaseng paglala ng traffic ang idinulot nito sa mga areas kung saan n'ya 'yun 'nilagay? Ano ba ang objective ng mga [yan]?
"What about those weird paintings and cement reliefs along Edsa? What are those for? Are they really necessary? Dude! There are 86 million [Filipinos] in [the Philippines]. Many of them are starving. And all that freak can think of is to spend the taxpayers' money on paintings and cement reliefs that can only cause more traffic when motorists decide to slow down to admire such crap.
"Then you read in the papers that MMDA traffic aides issued 42 traffic-violation tickets to motorists in Pasay for doing nothing wrong! 'Ayan.napagalitan tuloy kayo ng Pasay government! Not only are taxpayers' money being spent on kindergarten doodles along Edsa, they're also being used to pay traffic aides who apprehend nonviolators! The MMDA then comments that the next time its traffic aides are apprehended, it would take legal action against Pasay. The nerve of the MMDA to threaten legitimate law enforcers.
"What irks me most is when these traffic aides form into groups in certain sections of the highway. Ang dami-dami nila sa isang lugar, for what? To mulct the public as in band?
"Eyesore pa 'yung mga overpass na pinaggagagawa nila sa Metro Manila. 'Yung mga pink overpass kadiring tingnan! Isa pang kadiri yung pink urinals. 'They're sooo unsanitary dahil wala namang water system to wash the stench away."
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