The C-Town is Outside MMDA Jurisdiction

Sep 21 2007

C-Town, East side --- This is what we lovingly call our hometown Cainta, Rizal. Gateway to the East and all that crap. We just love it for being what it is: a quiet little suburban town, flood waters and all.

The Junction: technically, every major intersection is called a junction. The EDSA-Shaw intersection is a junction, as is EDSA corner Aurora. But most people know of only one junction, and that is the Cainta Junction. That's why it's spelled with a capital J. Just say "Junction," and they'll know that you mean the one in C-Town.

Just this week, major changes have happened in the Junction. Excess concrete was being hacked away from the buildings, in an effort to "expand" the sidewalk. And by Thursday, we see those fuschia-colored chicken wires springing up the sidewalks. What happened here?

Apparently, our former-newscaster-turned-mayor Ramon "Mon" Ilagan decided to enlist the help of the MMDA, in order to beautify this little suburban town. Was it even ugly in the first place?

I smell a bid for cityhood here. Well, if majority of the C-Town's residents would want this to be a city, I can't stop them. But if the Mayor wants to use Mr. BF's help, they should at least take out the MMDA logos on the chicken wires, and on the demolition trucks. The MMDA has absolutely NO jurisdiction over here, because the C-Town is a part of Region IV. Cainta is not, and never was, a part of the Metro Manila Council, and as such, cannot use the MMDA, directly or indirectly, for any purpose.

So Mr. Mayor, please study the rules, and do everything the legal way. And Mr. Bitch-Fit, please take your iron hand elsewhere.

(This is my first attempt at a political and social commentary.)

(originally posted in stinglacson.multiply.com, Sep 21, '07 3:34 AM.)