WINDOWS
Gabriel L. Cardinoza
 
If there is something new that I noticed in Urdaneta City when I passed by the city on my way to Villasis last Black Saturday, it’s its wide four-way intersection.   Even on ordinary days in the past, this major intersection was a terrible bottleneck, taking a good 30 to 45 minutes of motorists’ precious travel time just to get out of downtown Urdaneta.
 
But last Saturday, despite the volume of vehicles going to the north, traffic did not stop. It continued to move, although at a slower speed, removing the signs of impatience and disgust from the motorists’ faces.  And this was all because the intersection is wider now.
 
Honestly, we do not know for sure if the widened intersection (and the sections of the national highway linked to it) is already the realization of what Rep. Mark Cojuangco has been mouthing all along that he wants wider roads in his district. Mayor Amadito Perez had also said in the past that a flyover will be built in the area.

 
But whatever will be erected there in the near future, we can only admire the political will of the city government leaders to get the project done. From what we have observed, there may have been a series of heated discussions and negotiations before the project was implemented. This is because several buildings on both sides of the national highway were torn down; others farther down the road looked like their facades have been chopped up just to attain the desired new width of the highway.
 
The major landscape change in fact, is very noticeable that the electric poles (that should be moved soon) looked as if the were erected in the middle of the road.
 
Sure, a lot of taxpayers’ money will be spent in that project. But more than the expenses, what is more important is the people’s comfort, convenience and safety.
 
The city government leaders, maybe without their realizing it, have set a new standard in road-building. From what he heard, even in the barangay roads project of Congressman Cojuangco, he insists on wider roads. This is being proactive. After all, most communities now move towards progress. And with the population boom, they will not longer have to tear down houses and building in the future just to ease traffic.
 
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Technology has indeed changed even the observance of the Holy Week, especially among Catholics. I recall that during my childhood, when solid-state television has just been introduced in the market (the IC chip was invented later), there were no TV shows during the Holy Week except Bible stories movies. Radio stations then played soft and slow music and there were no commercials.
 
But today, with cable television, the are shows 24/7 and the radio blares out fast and noisy music as its DJs try hard enough to let out American-sounding English. In the local channels, live Masses are aired as well as Filipino movies. There were also locally-produced Holy Week-related dramas now, in lieu of regular shows.
 
As I watched the Siete Palabras being aired live from the Sto. Domingo Church in Manila, I noticed that the church was not jampacked like it was last year. In fact, as the camera pans, there were pews which were half-full.
 
Just like me, maybe the people just decided to hear Mass on TV, rather than risk going out and enter a crowded church. What if there’s a stampede? Or have all the snatchers and hold-uppers also taken a vacation?
 
With the cellular phone and text messaging, I will not be surprised anymore if in the future observance of the Holy Week, subscribers will be given an option to hear the Siete Palabras or a priest’s homily or even watch a penitent being crucified in Pampanga.
 
That’s technology for all of us. Happy Easter!