Image: Lea Salonga official website
Despite many people thinking Edsa’s traffic situation is a hopeless case, singer and actress Lea Salonga remained optimistic that it’s still “solvable.”
“Contrary to the belief of others, I believe EDSA is solvable, but it’ll take time, patience and discipline from all of us to fix it,” she wrote in a Facebook post on Monday.
However, Salonga noted that this alone could not make a perfect equation, adding that “extra infrastructure (which means government funding) and a change in public transport systems” are also needed.
“Solvable, sure. Just not anytime soon,” she added.
This sparked discussion on her Facebook post with a certain Junji Arias saying, “I think they should make it harder to get a drivers license. I remember being handed the answers for the test even though I didn’t ask for it. I had to rely on common sense for awhile before I learned the road rules.”
Salonga, then, shared her own experience when she had her driver tests in California and New York and how it’s mandatory to “get a certain score before you can qualify.”
“We need that kind of strictness here, and would-be drivers need to expect that the test will be difficult. Shouldn’t be a problem though, if you were trained correctly,” she added.
Artist Raymond Lauchengco also gave his “two cents” on the matter saying, “I’ve always felt that the way we drive, whether on EDSA or elsewhere in this country, is, very sadly a representation of the worst in us.”
He observed that Filipinos have always been known to be the nicest and warmest people, “but the minute we step into our cars it becomes every man for himself.”
“This may sound simplistic, but the moment we start caring about following rules, being more considerate, and giving way to others on the road, is the moment we become a better people, and a better nation,” Lauchengco added. /jpv