BULL’S HIT

Hard headed vendors, drivers
RUDY GARCIA

BAGUIO CITY -- The city demolition team under the Public order and Safety Division office is commended for successfully clearing out those hard- headed ambulant vendors plying their trade at the market area and at the overpasses.

These vendors really don’t mind the inconvenience they are bringing to the passing public and they also obstruct passing vehicles. In fact these vendors were already given several notices by POSD chief Greg Delejero and city administrator Peter Fianza but they ignored these, hence they were caught by surprise when the POSD men in black pounced on them last Jan. 8.
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The worsening traffic mess in Baguio is unbearable. Nowhere can you find a road at the central business district that is not traffic congested. One added factor to these problems are those undisciplined drivers of public jeeps bound for Trancoville and Aurora Hill. These “express” jeep drivers load and unload their passengers anywhere they want to.

We would like to know if these Trancoville and Aurora jeepneys were given permits to load and wait for their passengers at Bonifacio Street (in front of SLU upper Magsaysay just and before the overpass (beside Cunanan’s Trading) areas at Harrison Road (beside former Jadewell office.)

They also load and unload at will near the University of Cordilleras, just after the overpass, beside Patriotic School, beside Rose Bowl Restaurant and Tiongsan Bazaar, beside Center mall, rabbit sinkhole for Trancoville, Bonifacio Rotonda, corner Rimando Road and M. Roxas for Aurora Hill.

If these public utility jeepneys have been given special permits to have their mini terminals on areas mentioned then I guess that, there something “fishy” and whoever gave them their permits is really interesting to know.

Attention Mayor Peter Rey Bautista, Councilor Rocky Balisong and BCPO traffic division Chief Insp. Samuel Bumangil. Alam ho ba ninyo ito? Naku, gising!
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What could be the reason why some concerned authorities failed to stop the proliferation of bold shows in this summer capital. Could it be that the authorities are giving protection to those night clubs exhibiting nude shows? It makes me wonder that these establishments can openly have these kinds of shows without being apprehended; and free from any bulabog.

I guess there maybe some kind of cash-sunduan or other benefits were involved. So who are on the take from the operators of these establishments? You can easily find these nude dancers in those night clubs at Marcos Highway, Naguillian Road, Lower Magsaysay Road and Bokawkan Road.

My bubwit just informed me lately that he happened to see plain clothes policemen enter one of the nightclubs along Marcos Highway around midnight one night December last year. According to him, the cops did not conduct any inspection, or raid but they were there for a night of merry making.

What surprised him though was the entertainers were dancing naked on stage as though no cops were around. These cops pretended to see nothing when they should have asked the manager to stop the nude show in respect to them as agents of the law.

But who cares? What is basically wrong with us Pinoys is we have to pay utang na loob to the ones giving us favors. If these cops didn’t have utang na loob to this establishment, then they should have made the appropriate action against the manager or the operator.

Moreover, like in the illegal numbers game jueteng, bold shows cannot exist if city officials and the police join hands in going after these establishments showing nude shows. The same if barangay officials, the community, the NGOs and the media actively participate in eradicating these indecent shows, then there can be no reason why those operators of these night establishments won’t pack up their things and go elsewhere.

But, what else is new? I bet that, as long as there are corrupt officials protecting them, bold shows will never stop.
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I wonder how efficient the security personnel at SM Baguio are and how strict they are in implementing security measures particularly in checking or frisking people entering the mall.

Last Jan. 8 at about 5 p.m., I was about to enter SM when three male youngsters came running from inside the mall but were intercepted by security guards. The three alleged that they ran because some members of a fraternity tried to stab them with a knife inside the mall. They told said the knife that should have been used against them was hidden inside the sock of one of the suspects.

At this juncture, I asked one of the guards why someone was able to slip inside with a bladed weapon, but the guard never gave any explanation and opted not to give answers. He claimed that this was their standard operating procedure. In fact, he even refused to give the name of the security agency he was employed in.

But God forbid, what if the bladed weapon was a deadly bomb? I don’t want to imagine innocent people sprawled blooded on the floor and buried by shattered walls, ceilings and beams. I hope that next time, these security personnel and their bosses would learn to accept mistakes and correct them for the better. Huwag ng magpalusot.
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In my almost 20 years of lifting weights at the gym, there could be no doubt that I have reached the peak of my physique and I could count how many of my batch of colleagues can lift the amount of pounds I can still lift. This is not to carry my own bench but I feel my chest to bursts every time the young call me ‘idol.”

It is a great feeling that one can be a living model to these aspiring ones who would like to have their bodies develop and imitate the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Plats among others.

However, realizing one’s dream is not easy. Developing your body and fitness is not an overnight success. It is a long process, like regular exercise at the gym, diet and discipline. I have noted that gym beginners want to have short cuts in achieving their dreams which is wrong. Bodybuilding for instance has three different types of training, the beginners, intermediate and advance. There are required computed percentage ratio of the minimum and maximum load, and numbers on how much repetitions and sets you have to lift.