Taking The Street to Another Level

This Sesame Street sing-along is not for your kids.

MRT Sardines

Metro Rail Transit (more famously known as MRT), running from North Avenue to Taft Avenue along the stretch of EDSA, is indispensable for urban commuters. It provides fast, reliable and affordable mode of transportation along EDSA.

But for the past month, there has been a marked increase in the number of passengers in MRT. This is understandable, because of increasing bus and jeepney fares. Unfortunately, MRTA's service has not improved contemporaneous to the increase in the number of passengers. In fact, it has deteriorated even more.

Whereas before when a train arrives every 10 minutes or so, now you can be forced to wait for 20 or more minutes. I know, because I missed some classes because of this *minor* change. The once-reliable MRT has become unreliable. If you're planning to ride the MRT, give yourself a 30-minute allowance, just to make sure.

But the bigger problem is that the service will probably not improve anytime soon. The Manila Times reports that there is a conflict brewing between MRTA (the government side) and MRTC (composed of private persons/corporations which built the whole thing and own the assets).

At best, "The additional trains are expected to be delivered by 2009 and will be operational by 2010." At best.

But that is too long a wait. Much like the wait for the next train that MRT passengers have to endure.

Let's just hope MRT does not end up like this:Photo: Danumurthi Mahendra, Creative Commons, Flickr

Recto and NEDA

There are many howls of protest when Ralph Recto was appointed as NEDA chief.

NEDA, of course, has not yet recovered from the ZTE scandal. It is now widely perceived as a corrupt agency.

On the other hand, the appointment of Ralph Recto is suspiciously viewed by some as a consolation for him being in the administration's senatorial ticket last year.

If this appointment was made two years ago, this would not cause the same furor as it has today.

After all, Recto is suitable for the job *on paper*.

But more than the qualifications, what is more imperative is for the new NEDA chief to be above suspicion. It is not just about Recto's competence, it is also about his integrity.

So is Recto up to it? We'll see in due time.

Green Pinoy

No, this is not a post about the environment.

I'd just like to share greenpinoy.com.

If you want to start your day (or end your day, for that matter) with a little smile on your face, visit the site. I'm sure you're gonna find something funny.

Diesel Rollback

The P1.50 diesel rollback is a welcome relief. Yes, it's a measly amount. Yes, the price was rolled back after the oil companies increased the diesel prices by P3. But it's better than nothing, right?

So I don't understand why some groups are still criticizing the move. A slash on prices is a slash on prices. It's not as if the oil companies are artificially inflating the prices. There is a real increase in fuel prices that each and everyone of us must endure.

As to the claim in an Inquirer report that "Malacañang will, of course, take credit for the so-called rollback since it desperately wants to score brownie points just before Arroyo delivers her Sona," who cares, really? Who will believe her anyway?

The Oil Price Problem

First off, I'm not in any way connected to any petroleum company. I do not work for one, nor am I a fan of one. I am not related (by direct line, or by 4th degree of consanguinity or affinity) to any person working for one. The only association that I can think of between me and oil, is the one being taken off my face by an oil control strip. That being cleared up, let's look at the problem objectively.

We are faced with the fuel problem. What do we do?

First option: repeal the Oil Deregulation law. But in my opinion, Oil deregulation is out of the question. At a time when other countries are deregulating their oil industry (because of the unreasonable burden to the public coffers), many camps in the Philippines are clamoring for regulating our oil industry. That is simply unwise. We deregulated way back in the 90s because of mounting costs to subsidize the people's fuel needs. A regulated oil industry is akin to a trojan horse - it may look like a gift, but what will happen to us if the government revenues are not enough to meet our gas-guzzling needs, among other things? It will surely haunt us in case the country's fiscal health collapses.

Second: the non-imposition of VAT in petroleum products is a more plausible solution. If the government decides to do so, our P60++ gas price will be reduced by P6 or so. It is a big help. But I don' think the government is willing to do so. When VAT was imposed on oil products, the gas price was only P20-30 then. But since then, the world prices has quadrupled, an our local oil prices was doubled. Which means that the government has inadvertently doubled its revenue from oil without any effort on its part. And because of the inelastic nature of oil products, the people have no choice but to buy it. So the government will be really reluctant to let go of this cash cow.

The third option is to appeal to the oil companies' hearts. This is far-fetched, since corporations are heartless entities (I mean that literally, not figuratively). But at the very least, we can appeal to them to price their products according to the market movement. Which means that they will not hastily increase the prices when there is a scare in the world market, and they will not slowly decrease their prices when the world market prices have decreased. In other words, let's just hope to high heavens that they will not take advantage of the situation by trying to milk more money from the people just so they can increase the dividends of their stockholders. Sounds just fair, right? But this is an appeal that would probably be left unheeded.

Fourth option: ride a bicycle on the way to work.

Where the hell is Matt

I just want to share a pretty cool video showing one Matt Harding in different places around the globe doing a goofy looking dance.

At first I thought it was a fake. But a second (and third, and fourth...) look led me to the conclusion that the video is authentic.

And then it hit me - this is one beautiful and humongous project. I too, would like to do something like that in my lifetime (minus the goofy dance).

There is already a 2008 video just recently released(Tagaytay was included), but I think the 2006 video is better. See the 2006 version below.