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Humingi ng paliwanag si Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio Cardinal David sa pamunuan ng North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) sa nararanasang matinding traffic matapos na ring bahain ang bahagi ng San Simon, Pampanga.
Ayon kay Cardinal David, umaabot sa halos limang oras ang pagkakaipit ng ilang motorista na halos hindi gumagalaw ang mga sasakyan at wala ring madaling labasan mula sa expressway.
“Yesterday, I spent almost five miserable hours trapped in traffic on NLEX because of the flooding in the San Simon area. Five hours hardly moving, with nowhere to go and no way to get off the expressway. It reached the point when some of us could no longer hold our bladder and had to pee into a bottle inside the vehicle. I could only imagine how much worse the ordeal must have been for women, children, elderly passengers and people with medical conditions,” ayon sa mensahe ng Cardinal.
Sa Facebook post ng Cardinal, pinuna nito ang paulit-ulit nang binabaha ang San Simon tuwing tag-ulan, kaya’t hinihingi ng mga motorista ang mas maagang babala, traffic diversion at malinaw na impormasyon bago pa makarating sa bahaging binabaha.
Ayon kay Cardinal David, hindi man kayang kontrolin ng NLEX ang panahon, maaari namang paghandaan ang pagbaha sa mga lugar na matagal nang kilalang flood-prone area.
“We pay substantial toll fees precisely because we expect a toll expressway to provide a reasonably safe, properly maintained and efficiently managed facility. Of course NLEX cannot prevent typhoons or extraordinary rainfall,” giit pa ng Cardinal.
Hinihikayat din ang Toll Regulatory Board na siyasatin ang mga hakbang ng NLEX para mapanatiling ligtas at maayos ang tollway tuwing may matinding ulan.
Giit pa ni Cardinal David, “Perhaps it is time for affected motorists to explore a collective legal action and ask the Toll Regulatory Board to investigate whether NLEX Corporation has adequately fulfilled its obligations to the motorists from whom it collects tolls.”
Hiling din ng Cardinal ang malinaw na paliwanag at permanenteng solusyon sa paulit-ulit na pagbaha, pati ang posibleng refund o toll credit kapag halos hindi na madaanan ang expressway.
“This is not merely an inconvenience. It is a question of motorists’ rights and public accountability,” ayon pa sa mensahe ni Cardinal David.
Giit pa ng pinunong pastol na tubong Pampanga, hindi lamang ito abala kundi usapin ng kaligtasan, maayos na serbisyo at pananagutan.
Gayundin ang kalagayan ng trapiko ngayong araw sa NLEX kung saan kabilang din sa naipit sa trapiko ang Veritas Newsteam, si Papal Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Charles Brown, mga pari at diakono ng Archdiocese of Manila na dapat sana’y dadalo sa pagdiriwang ng ika-25 anibersaryo bilang obispo ni Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas sa Minor BAasilica of Our Lady of the Rosary sa Manaoag.
