The White Sand of Manila Bay, The Majesty of Jones Bridge And The Futility of This Government)

 

     This government, despite the pandemic and the many crises (hunger, joblessness foremost among them) the Filipinos are currently facing, decided to waste energy, effort and money for a beautification project—by putting white sand on the Manila Bay. It will solidify the grandeur of the sunset, they say. This useless project will sort of remind you of how Nero played violin while Rome burned and his people suffered. Nero, history will tell you, was an ineffectual leader in a time of crisis. It turns out that aside from being untimely and really unnecessary at this time, the white sand they are putting on the bay is really not sand, it is dolomite dust, which they say is terribly harmful to people’s health.

     This is not the first time that this clownish government wasted money, time and effort on untimely projects that are detrimental to the public. The anti-terror bill comes to mind, and the closure of ABS-CBN.

     But then, mayhem results when you have a president who barely communicates with the people.

     Finally, this morning, I was able to go the office of my younger sister, bringing her some documents. Before leaving home on my bike to go to her, I planned to go to the famous and newly-refurbished Jones Bridge (see photo above) which wasn’t really far from her office and was just a few pedals away. But like I mentioned in a previous blog entry, this pandemic and this buffoonish government have ways of distracting you and confusing you and playing tricks on your mind—I got to her office, gave the documents to the guard as they weren’t allowed to accept visitors, left her office, bought some hopia and other snacks from a store near her office and went home.

     And as I was taking the bike inside the house, I suddenly remembered the historical Jones Bridge and its newly-reacquired majesty and my plan to see it.

     Anyway, the hopia was good.

     I wonder who bought it.