83 year old Cardinal Rosales braved the storm rain and walked almost a mile to direct traffic and he was able to eas the flow of vehicles. Secretary Abaya on the other side. Photo Credit: GMA News/ABS-CBN
Lawmaker asks Abaya: Old cardinal fixed traffic, why can’t you do the same?
“Rosales set an example to lax and incompetent government officials when he went out of his way to direct traffic after coming from Mass at the Padre Pio Shrine in Sto. Tomas, Batangas on Sunday,” the Philippine Star quoted him as saying.
“The Cardinal’s move is a sign of our times—our people are fending for themselves, taking matters into their own hands because of an absent and insensitive government,” he added.
The elderly cardinal, braving the rains of Typhoon Goni, walked almost a kilometer to help direct a gridlock which was causing the traffic.
“We were trapped for over an hour and we were rushing to another engagement,” the 83-year-old Rosales said. “I said to myself: ‘we cannot take this anymore.’”
As proof of Abaya’s incompetence, Romualdez said the Transportation Secretary is rarely seen in public and does not reveal his department’s plan to ease the ever-increasing congestion in the roads of Manila.
And when he does show his face, Abaya seems indifferent to the needs of the people—as evidenced by the time he described the traffic situation as “not fatal,” Romualdez said.
Abaya earlier raised howls after he off-handedly said traffic jams were not fatal in Manila during a live TV interview. He has since apologized for his remarks which he described as insensitive and reckless.
Going further, Romualdez added that the worsening traffic means officials won’t have time to complete various infrastructure projects as part of its Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit scheduled in November — another huge embarrassment to the country, he pointed out.
SOURCE: Kickerdaily.com: Lawmaker asks Abaya: Old cardinal fixed traffic, why can’t you do the same?