Toll Road Opening Eases Trip to NAIA

By: Philippine Daily Inquirer

September 23rd, 2016 01:23 AM

NOWOPEN The first segment of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway is now open. It will link Terminals 1 and 2 in Parañaque City to Macapagal Boulevard and the Entertainment City in Pasay City. For the first month, motorists will not pay toll for using the expressway. RICHARD A. REYES

Access to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) just got a little easier.

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) opened on Thursday the initial section of a toll road seeking to cut the notorious congestion around the Naia complex, the country’s busiest air gateway.

Starting on Thursday, motorists were allowed to use the portion of the Naia Expressway Project Phase 2 that links Terminals 1 and 2 to Macapagal Boulevard, which is near the Entertainment City casino complex.

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The rest of the toll road, which extends further to Terminal 3, and Metro Manila Skyway and South Luzon Expressway, would be opened “before the Christmas season,” the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said in a statement. SMC also operates the Skyway and SLEx.

The opening toll fee of P35 for light vehicles has been waived for the first month of operations. Also waived are the fee of P69 for larger Class 2 vehicles and P104 for Class 3 vehicles.

“Finally, our countrymen will feel the benefit of having faster and more direct access to Naia Terminals 1, 2 and 3. It will also go a long way in easing traffic congestion in surrounding cities, and support growth in southern Metro Manila,” said SMC president Ramon S. Ang.

SMC estimated that more than 40,000 motorists would use the Naia Expressway Phase 2 daily.

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said the Naia Expressway Phase 2, once fully opened, would cut road congestion by over 60 percent.

PPP project

Before the expressway opening, average travel time between the Skyway and Naia Terminal 1 is 24 minutes, according to the DPWH. That would be cut to 8.2 minutes with Phase 2 of the airport expressway.

The project was among the public-private partnership (PPP) projects launched by the Aquino administration.

SMC, through Vertex Tollways Development Inc., won the P17.9-billion project in 2013 after its P11-billion bid bested the offer of sole rival Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

The conglomerate, which has been diversifying into infrastructure and power, will operate the expressway for 30 years.

In his statement, Ang asked for the public’s understanding, partly due to the added road congestion during the construction of the toll road.

The project was delayed by over a year, as the government dealt with massive right of way issues, including the relocation of various water pipes and power cables along the toll road’s alignment.

“The DPWH would ensure 24/7 operation in the last segment of Naia Expressway,” Villar said.

He added that the Duterte administration was conscious of delivering on its promise. “We will set deadlines and contractors would have to abide.”

Terminals 3 and 4

The Naia Expressway Project is a four-lane, 12.65-kilometer elevated expressway (including ramps) and 2.22-kilometer at-grade road traversing Sales Avenue, Andrews Avenue, Parañaque River, MIAA Road and Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard.

When all phases are completed, the Naia Expressway Project is expected to provide easy access to and from Terminals 1, 2, 3 and 4 and will interface with the South Luzon Expressway through Sales Interchange, Manila Cavite Toll Expressway and Macapagal Boulevard.

A total of 16 off and on ramps are being built along strategic locations at Villamor Air Base, Resorts World, Terminal 3, MIAA Road, Imelda Avenue, Cavitex, Seaside Drive and Macapagal Boulevard.

In Love with Life?

In love with life?

Mindanao Daily News

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HAVE MY SAY
BY KLAUS DORING

SOMETIMES, we feel our life is turning miserably. Our negativism doesn’t allow us to keep our eyes, ears – and, most important! – our minds, hearts and souls opened. We’re reaching our breaking point.

This breaking point can be the prelude to our strongest moment. Can be! Must not! But if yes, then it is when we reach our breaking point, we discover our real strength. Allow me to ask you, my dear readers: “What happens to you or with you when you reach your breaking point?” Do you face it or do you run away? I’ll be giving you a very simple answer: If you face it – you break it. If you run away (and/or close your ears, eyes and mouth) – it breaks you!

Are you in love with life? No.

Everyday–a dull reality! Many of us will answer this question with a big YES! Actually, we do like to cover a newborn day already with grey veil. But, each day has a new face, but sometimes we don’t have the strength to watch its countenance. Of course, not every day has adventures and highlights. Would be really too easy!

Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that, at the same time, seemed especially desolating and painful with a particular satisfaction. Indeed, everything I have learned, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness.

If it ever were to be possible to eliminate affliction from your earthly existence, the result would not make life delectable, but to make it too banal and trivial to be endurable.

By observation, we can feel that many of us need help to manage the everyday life. We need something that would keep us going as we journey through life. Many times we can also learn from other people and their experiences.

And here is one more thing: Affection is the humblest love – it gives itself no airs. It lives with humble and private things: soft slippers, old clothes, old jokes, and the thump of a sleepy dog’s tail on the kitchen floor. The glory of affection, the disposition of mind, the good will and tender attachment, that can unite those who are not “made for one and another!”

For me life has been a thing of ups and downs in approximately equal measure. I don’t have something sensational to report every day about my progress. Often, I wonder if fulfillment in life is necessarily tied to change for the better. But one thing is for sure: I keep staying in love with life.

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You can email me: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook or Twitter or visit one of my websites www. germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com.

Inmate Colangco to Testify vs De Lima in House's Bilibid Drug Probe

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INQUIRER.net

By: Tetch Torres-Tupas, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Convicted robber and drug dealer Herbert “Ampang” Colangco is one of the high profile inmates that will testify against Senator Leila de Lima in the Congressional inquiry next week on the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country’s major prison facility, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Friday.

Colangco is one of the names in the drug matrix presented by President Rodrigo Duterte as among the convicts inside the Maximum Security Compound of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) who still managed to continue operations despite incarceration. Also in the matrix is De Lima, her former driver Ronnie Dayan and another drug convict Peter Co.

Colangco also managed to shoot music videos inside prison and donated millions to the Bilibid hospital. He, along with 18 other high profile inmates were moved to the National Bureau of Investigtion (NBI) in late 2014 after authorities discovered that they were living a posh lifestyle inside Bilibid. From NBI, they were moved to Bilibid’s Building 14, a highly secured facility separate from the Maximum Security Compound.

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READ: Bato brings SAF to Bilibid, taunts VIP inmate: Do a song for me

“There are 10 to 12 high profile inmates that will testify kasama si Colangco dun (Colangco is one of them),” Aguirre said.

“They have agreed to testify,” he said but pointed out that there are no concessions or agreement in exchange for their testimony.

Aside from the high profile inmates, Aguirre said a former NBI director and NBI agents will testify against De Lima. CDG

Cayetano: EJK hearings could be LP's 'Plan B' to reclaim Malacanang

Cayetano: EJK hearings could be LP’s ‘Plan B’ to reclaim Malacañang

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has questioned the real motive of the Senate Justice Committee in producing witness Edgar Matobato, who has claimed that President Rodrigo Duterte was behind numerous killings in Davao City when he was still mayor.

During Thursday’s hearing headed by Senator Leila De Lima, Cayetano warned that the probe could be a ploy initiated by the Liberal Party to damage the reputation of President Rodrigo Duterte, remove him from power, and install their own president.

“Gusto ko ipakita… na merong posibleng motibo ng paninira sa ating Pangulo dito… I’m asking about you [Sen. De Lima], your motive, and the motive of your party in this hearing… I am testing whether [the witnesses are credible] or is this part of the plan B of the Liberal Party para makuha ang Malacañang at manira lang,” Cayetano said.

“Ako po ay naniniwala sa kasabihan sa Bibliya, kung anong itinanim, ‘yun ang aanihin mo. So kailangan, sa committee na ‘to, katotohanan ang itatanim natin, kasi kung kasinungalingan, grabe po ang consequences nito... Ano ba ang importante, ang lumabas ang totoo, or is this just a demolition job being done against President Duterte?”

The senator questioned the Justice committee’s intention for presenting a witness with no proper corroboration. He strongly expressed doubt over the accusations made by Matobato, a self-proclaimed member of the suspected Davao Death Squad (DDS) who testified against Duterte before the hearing.

To disprove claims of Duterte’s alleged involvement in the killings in Davao during his term as mayor, Cayetano cited how the local office of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) already denied the existence of the said death squad.

The commission earlier conducted public hearings in Davao and even requested the Ombudsman to investigate on murder cases attributed to the DDS. The final disposition approved by the Office of the Ombudsman showed that "no evidence was gathered to support the killings attributed or attributable to the DDS” and that the allegations remain as "chismis and other gossips,” Cayetano noted.

He then stressed that Matobato’s credibility as a witness needs to be tested further, especially considering his proximity to De Lima, a Liberal Party member.

“Kaya ko nga tine-testing kung totoo sinasabi niyo o hindi… kung drawing ba ito, imbento lang ba ito, at dinala ka dito para pabagsakin ang administrasyon,” he told Matobato, who had been under the Justice Department’s Witness Protection Program (WPP) since 2014, back when De Lima was still DOJ Secretary.

Cayetano further expressed his frustration over the manner by which the proceedings were being conducted, particularly the committee’s failure to provide senators with a list of the witnesses prior to last Thursday’s hearing.

“Until 4 p.m. yesterday (Wednesday), humihingi ako ng listahan ng imbitado sa hearing na ‘to. Hindi ako binibigyan ng committee po ninyo. Kahit ang initial list kung sino ang imbitado,” Cayetano narrated. “I just take exception to the way this [hearing] is being conducted. Because dapat handa at prepared kaming lahat, and factual ang mga lumalabas,” he stressed.

Cayetano also called out the committee for mentioning misleading data with regards to the number of deaths being linked to the current administration.

“When the chair gives facts and figures, it should be factual, hindi conclusions. At the start of this hearing, the chair mentioned that there are 3,526 total killed persons on the drug war... But this is wrong, because there are only 1,506 killed resulting from actual police operations. Ang ibang dinagdag dito, ‘yung murder and homicide [cases], pareho ang numero nung time ni Pangulong Aquino, na ngayon ay china-charge kay Pangulong Duterte,” he said during his manifestation.

“Let me say why I want to manifest this. We are being monitored not only by the local media but also the international media, and they are quoting from this hearing, from the CHR, and from this chair. Pero ‘yung mga numero ay mali at misleading,” he added.