NOT ALL quarry truckers are what you call them.
And what did I call them? Retorted I to a long-time friend who operates a trucking firm.
The most arrogantly undisciplined road users, as you wrote in your column titled “Destroying the megadike.”
Okay, the fault of one is the fault of all. My generalization borne by myopia – all quarry trucks and their drivers look the same to me. One overspeeding, traffic rule-violating trucker makes all quarry truckers traffic violators. Call it the fixity of my intellectual habits, of drawing generalizations from specific cases.
Spare me from your verbal diarrhea, I only wanted to clear some issues with you on the proposal for quarry truckers to use the FVR megadike, or to be specific, its western portion.
I thought you read my column, so why still raise the issue with me.
It’s precisely because of what you wrote that I sought you to hear me out, to listen to the truckers’ side of the issue. For once, suspend your prejudice against the truckers, will you?
Okay, my position is that allowing the truckers to use the megadike will hasten its destruction, as it was not meant to be a highway that could accommodate all sorts of vehicles. Then there is the certain high cost to human life and property that would surely result, given the narrowness of the road and the obnoxious driving habits of the truckers.
Wrong on both counts you are there.
Prove it.
The integrity of the megadike, its strength and compaction has withstood, not only the test of time, but the heavy load of quarry trucks that used it at the time of the construction of the SCTEx (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway), that used it even before that time and thereafter up to the present.
Now you’re pulling my leg, no way could dump trucks use the megadike without destroying those concrete barriers limiting the vertical clearance to small vehicles.
We are on parallel thoughts here, I am referring to the western portion of the megadike, you have the eastern side in mind.
Oh, I did not know that.
Now you do. It is precisely the western portion that the quarry association and the truckers are proposing to use, and rehabilitate with their own funds if allowed by the DPWH, as Mike Tapang proposed but which you scorned as a “sweetener.” Seriously, the quarry operators and truckers are ready to shoulder the repair of the dike if ever breached by the quarry trucks.
Owww? How can we be certain of this?
Quarry truckers have no choice. For sometime now, a truck ban is in effect in Sta. Rita. Mayor Blueboy Nepo had imposed the same in Angeles City. Now, where will the trucks coming out of Porac pass to deliver their goods in Metro Manila?
Search me.
The most viable passageway is the western portion of the megadike. From Porac, quarry trucks would go directly to the Olongapo-Gapan Road, sparing all the barangay, municipal, provincial roads and even the MacArthur Highway in the process. What is needed is for the western portion of the megadike to be solely dedicated to quarry trucks, and your fears of a high toll in human life and property will prove unwarranted. Have you ever heard of any accident at the western portion so far?
Good arguments, but the sangguniang panlalawigan has already shot down your proposal even before it reached the members officially.
Yes, the SP mouthed the very arguments contained in your column. I just hope they would be as open as you are to our reasoning. Anyway, we have an ally in the Office of the Governor.
Oh, the governor is endorsing your proposal?
Yes, if we go by the words of the provincial administrator. Read what she said in Sun Star Pampanga: “…Meanwhile, in a separate interview, Provincial Administrator Vivian Dabu said the PQA proposal for the use of the Megadike road is essential for the “survival” of the quarry industry.
“They cannot use the Sta. Rita roads. They are banned from Angeles City. They could have access to the SCTEx. Paano naman ang mga truckers at quarry operators natin? How will the industry survive kung wala na silang pwedeng daanan,” Dabu said, adding the Megadike road is for now the best option at hand.”
Okay, with Dabu as your strongest supporter, I wish you all the luck before the SP.
And what did I call them? Retorted I to a long-time friend who operates a trucking firm.
The most arrogantly undisciplined road users, as you wrote in your column titled “Destroying the megadike.”
Okay, the fault of one is the fault of all. My generalization borne by myopia – all quarry trucks and their drivers look the same to me. One overspeeding, traffic rule-violating trucker makes all quarry truckers traffic violators. Call it the fixity of my intellectual habits, of drawing generalizations from specific cases.
Spare me from your verbal diarrhea, I only wanted to clear some issues with you on the proposal for quarry truckers to use the FVR megadike, or to be specific, its western portion.
I thought you read my column, so why still raise the issue with me.
It’s precisely because of what you wrote that I sought you to hear me out, to listen to the truckers’ side of the issue. For once, suspend your prejudice against the truckers, will you?
Okay, my position is that allowing the truckers to use the megadike will hasten its destruction, as it was not meant to be a highway that could accommodate all sorts of vehicles. Then there is the certain high cost to human life and property that would surely result, given the narrowness of the road and the obnoxious driving habits of the truckers.
Wrong on both counts you are there.
Prove it.
The integrity of the megadike, its strength and compaction has withstood, not only the test of time, but the heavy load of quarry trucks that used it at the time of the construction of the SCTEx (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway), that used it even before that time and thereafter up to the present.
Now you’re pulling my leg, no way could dump trucks use the megadike without destroying those concrete barriers limiting the vertical clearance to small vehicles.
We are on parallel thoughts here, I am referring to the western portion of the megadike, you have the eastern side in mind.
Oh, I did not know that.
Now you do. It is precisely the western portion that the quarry association and the truckers are proposing to use, and rehabilitate with their own funds if allowed by the DPWH, as Mike Tapang proposed but which you scorned as a “sweetener.” Seriously, the quarry operators and truckers are ready to shoulder the repair of the dike if ever breached by the quarry trucks.
Owww? How can we be certain of this?
Quarry truckers have no choice. For sometime now, a truck ban is in effect in Sta. Rita. Mayor Blueboy Nepo had imposed the same in Angeles City. Now, where will the trucks coming out of Porac pass to deliver their goods in Metro Manila?
Search me.
The most viable passageway is the western portion of the megadike. From Porac, quarry trucks would go directly to the Olongapo-Gapan Road, sparing all the barangay, municipal, provincial roads and even the MacArthur Highway in the process. What is needed is for the western portion of the megadike to be solely dedicated to quarry trucks, and your fears of a high toll in human life and property will prove unwarranted. Have you ever heard of any accident at the western portion so far?
Good arguments, but the sangguniang panlalawigan has already shot down your proposal even before it reached the members officially.
Yes, the SP mouthed the very arguments contained in your column. I just hope they would be as open as you are to our reasoning. Anyway, we have an ally in the Office of the Governor.
Oh, the governor is endorsing your proposal?
Yes, if we go by the words of the provincial administrator. Read what she said in Sun Star Pampanga: “…Meanwhile, in a separate interview, Provincial Administrator Vivian Dabu said the PQA proposal for the use of the Megadike road is essential for the “survival” of the quarry industry.
“They cannot use the Sta. Rita roads. They are banned from Angeles City. They could have access to the SCTEx. Paano naman ang mga truckers at quarry operators natin? How will the industry survive kung wala na silang pwedeng daanan,” Dabu said, adding the Megadike road is for now the best option at hand.”
Okay, with Dabu as your strongest supporter, I wish you all the luck before the SP.
