AS the carol goes (many people sing it more by habit than its meaning), the ultimate resolve for each new year is to be a better person, a renewed striving for self-improvement. More often than not, this intention lasts for a few days at best and is remanded to the dustbin of short-term memory.
For a change, let me cite some situations that need action by some people, organizations, institutions and agencies on what they can do to make it a better 2026 and onward...
For vehicle drivers of all kinds, private and public transport — Show each other that their parents taught them well. Be courteous and friendly. Public displays of entitlement can only lead to trouble. More so if tempers are uncontrolled.
Correct your driving habits, especially the motorcycle delivery riders. Your recklessness can and will prove fatal not only to you but your passengers and commuters. Because of its design, the motorcycle rider and passenger will surely sustain bodily injuries in accidents. While the Land Transportation Office continues its lax policies on licensing motorcycles, people will still entertain the perception that there are still a lot of fixers within the agency.
Malls and shopping centers — Being senior- and person with disability (PWD)-friendly does not stop with ramps (especially those short inclines designed for muscled caregivers. Oh, and the armored bank trucks that block these ramps, too). Many seniors and disabled persons go to the malls for shopping with their respective families. Usually, they roam with the wives and children until their legs tire out. Then it becomes a problem because there are no seats for them to rest their weary legs. And they are not allowed to loiter either. But they are welcome to shop and spend money.
I myself was shooed away by the person manning the information booth at the center of the new wing of UP Town Center beside Uniqlo while waiting for my wife to conclude her shopping. I looked around to see if there were seats available. None. Aghast, I asked the person why it wasn’t allowed. By the corner of my eye, I saw a security guard evidently monitoring us, fully facing us both. I just muttered “ganoon...” and went inside the store. I don’t argue with guards and receptionists. I wondered, “would I be treated the same way if I were a politician with tough-looking, non-smiling bodyguards wearing dark glasses and coiled ear-pieces meant for everyone to see, around me?” Of course, not. Like corruption, it’s the system, stupid.
Because my wife was on a wheelchair, it would take us more time to go around and conclude our shopping. When it was newly opened, the highest floor in the parking lot with a bridgeway at the end of the lot was open to shoppers, making it easy and convenient to access the theater and stores within that location. Today, I have never seen it open and that parking wing has become a ghost lot. So today we, seniors and PWDs, need to enter the mall at the middle bridgeway (if there is parking available), and walk and roll the wheelchair to the far side of the mall which takes more time.
When it was new, the UP Town Center did not charge seniors/PWDs for parking the whole day. It was a very welcome policy. However today, it no longer works — staying longer than three hours will require payment. We usually exceed the allowed free hours because it takes longer for us to negotiate the stores, notwithstanding falling in line at eating places. Business overrides consumer welfare at UP Town Center.
DPWH, MMDA and LGUs — The road works are so poorly done! I need not go far, just the stretch of Katipunan road takes a toll on vehicles and road safety. The potholes are still there, forcing cars to slow down instead of maintaining the speed limit. The bicycle lanes suffocate the already narrow Katipunan with only a handful using these lanes (even those pesky motorcycles don’t use them) they ought to be taken out. Katipunan is not fit for wheelchairs, walkers nor bicycles. Not while trucks, buses and other large vehicles continue to traverse Katipunan posing a real and dangerous threat to the safety and well-being of commuters, students, teachers and residents.
The height of the north-bound lane of Katipunan was raised while the opposite lane was not. Brilliant. Now cars have to slow down when negotiating the U-turn at the corner of Miriam College and B. Gonzales, resulting in a few vehicles actually making the turn in the short time allocated by the enforcers. At a time when fuel prices are taking a toll on everyone.
Senior citizens and PWD agencies — One would think that by now, there would have been a single agency for both senior citizens and PWDs, with a unified ID system and benefits bestowed nationwide, not dependent on the whims of each local government unit (LGU) for their political agendas. Instead, we have separate IDs, each with no security features, easily faked, free parking and movies only in the LGU where you belong to.
The LGU issues a certificate of eligibility for disabled persons and issues IDs to senior constituents. The National Council for Disability Affairs issues IDs for disabled persons and yet is not honored by all LGUs. Having one ID with a computer chip detailing such personal information would resolve this incongruity. Looking at the global community, most senior citizens and disabled persons just verbally request for discounts in eating places, and they are given such. For those who are able to travel, passengers just indicate whether they need assistance for mobility when they book with the airlines.
Mind you, I have purposely not included suggestions or possible solutions to the above. I figure, with the shocking public revelations of the corrupt, make them use their brains to solve the above. I’m tired of working for them for free while they use our money for their comfort.