THIS is the clear lesson we can draw from the Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity. If we are God’s image and likeness, meant to share in his life and nature, then we have to realize that just like the Blessed Trinity where the three persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in eternal relation with each other, we too need to be always in relation with God and with everybody and everything else. Only then can we fully attain the life that is meant for us.

As a direct corollary of what we have just said, to be by oneself is actually an anomaly that will always lead us to some dangers. We are never meant to be a loner. We need to be with God and with everybody else all the time.

That is the main reason why we are endowed with the spiritual gifts of intelligence and will which would enable us precisely, by knowing and willing, to enter into relation with others, first with God.

That is the main purpose of our intelligence and will. It’s God who is their main object, and everything else only plays a subordinate, instrumental but also indispensable role. The moment we would just use our intelligence and will for our own self-interest, we would be stepping away from the proper path meant for us.

We need to be clear about this basic truth about ourselves because by not living according to it, we now are having all sorts of problems and disorders. This truth has to be spread out as widely as possible, taught and explained as thoroughly as possible to everyone. More than that, everyone has to know how precisely to enter and maintain that relationship in a consistent and abiding way.

We have to acknowledge our strong tendency to simply be by ourselves, relying only on our human powers and faculties, and on our natural and human means. We have to learn how to be guarded against that tendency and how to deal with it properly.

Obviously, this will require, first of all, God’s grace that will always be made available and abundantly at that. But we have to correspond to that grace as best that we can. Given our human condition, where we learn things step by step or in stages, we should come up with an effective plan where little by little we can approach that ideal of knowing and loving the way God knows and loves his own self and all of us.

It’s clear that we really would need to know how to pray, since prayer is our basic way to connect and relate ourselves with God. We have to learn how to live always in the presence of God, which should not be difficult since in the first place, God is everywhere, and his presence is not simply something passive but is always active and attentive, ever solicitous of our needs. He is never indifferent to us even if we are indifferent to him.

We have to be guarded against the many things that can take us away from God. Distractions are all over the place, and, of course, without God, we are vulnerable to be affected easily by our erratic emotions.

We need to help one another to learn how to be with God always. We have to break whatever barrier there is that would prevent us from being with him all the time.

In the narrative of lawyer Ruben C. Carranza, the San Juanico Bridge inauguration took place on the birthday of the conjugal dictator’s half Imelda Romualdez Marcos on July 2, 1973. Among the guests whom she loved to invite to give the world a false veneer of a “jetset” lifestyle were socialite Cristina Ford and the concert pianist Van Cliburn. Also, Arthur Lopez, the banquet manager of the Manila Hilton Hotel was tasked to manage the huge catering for a cover of 5,000 breakfast, lunch and dinner.

All the kitchen equipment, machines and ingredients including 200 hotel staff to set up the kitchen and service facilities including ice carvings and flowing fountains on-site. The kitchen staff were flown from Manila to the reception site in Tolosa, Leyte be ready a least a week prior to the big event. The food and service was first class and the total tab for the event was reportedly P1million and was reportedly the first time in history for such a gargantuan amount of a catering contract.

Recently, the Samar provincial government proposed a project to install LED lights in the bridge, with timed lighting effects for select occasions as an effort to boost tourism between Leyte and Samar islands. The P80 million project dubbed as the San Juanico Bridge Lighting Project was approved by the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority in January 2018.

It became the light and sound display at the San Juanico Bridge with the cost is pegged at P80 million. This, while the poverty incidence in Samar today is 37% and Leyte is at 39.10% among the poorest provinces in the country. The 2021 agriculture budget for Samar was P66.03 million.

The implementation of the lighting project under the term of the magical president has experienced delays. The groundbreaking for the project took place on 26 July 2019, with completion projected for December 2019 or January 2020. The completion of the project however has been delayed. The bridge was successfully lit up for the first time on 20 October 2022.

It would be recalled that the bridge was slightly damaged by Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Super Typhoon Yolanda, in November 2013 but was quickly repaired and reopened within the month.

It would be recalled that the San Juanico Bridge underwent rehabilitation sometime in the year 2022 by Japanese firm Sumitumo, the principal contractor. It was closed to traffic sometime on 30 October 2002 when a barge rammed one of its foundations or piers that caused the deck to slid by at least 10 centimeters. The damaged was attributed to material fatigue by Engr. Jimmy Chan, the Philippine-Japan Highway Loan project manager.

Over half a century since the erection of the iconic San Juanico Bridge, this generation ought to know the untold facts that may all be lasting reminders of bridge tears.
comments to alellema@yahoo.com

A passenger van crashed into a light post near Tacloban DZR Airport on San Jose National Highway this afternoon, June 10. The accident resulted in the death of a woman at the scene, while several passengers were rushed to hospitals for treatment.

The van, traveling from Ormoc City, was reportedly speeding when the driver lost control and hit a solar light pole on the center island at around a Authorities are investigating the incident, and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB-8) plans to issue a preventive suspension against the van operator.

The sight was gruesome, the van in malleable crumpled shape, the passenger flew out perhaps judging from the positions that they were in, windows broken, a person was dangling from the window at the back of the van, a person lay prostate, twisted on the wet concrete. It was more than the makangingirhat state that would haunt us on many nights to come.

These events remind us of road safety, signages, full implementation of the law and pure and simple paghirot.

As a driver for more than a decade and other vehicle owners, this is a real bullet we must bite, accidents can happen. We need to mitigate and be aware. Data shows that more than a million death is claimed by motor accidents, mishaps worldwide, proving that it is a death starter.

• 1.19 million deaths occur annually due to road traffic crashes.
• Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for individuals aged 5–29 years.
• 92% of road fatalities happen in low- and middle-income countries, despite these nations having only 60% of the world’s vehicles.
• The African region has the highest road traffic death rate at 26.6 per 100,000 population, while the European region has the lowest at 9.3 per 100,000.
• 77% of road deaths involve males, and adults aged 15–44 years account for 59% of global road traffic fatalities.

In all, we must be very careful, as like bullets, road accidents knows no politics nor does it respect rank or age. Please be careful on the road!