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3 Cost Effective Ways to Solve Metro Manila's Traffic Problem

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The Facebook page of ANC 24/7 is asking for its reader's suggestion on how to solve Metro Manila's traffic problem. This got me thinking, "what is the best way to solve Metro Manila's traffic problem?" It's easy to make suggestions, what's hard is the implementation and the cost of implementation. So what is the the best way to solve Metro Manila's traffic problem and the most cost effective solution? Punitive Fines Add caption First of all, any implementation will definitely cost money, a lot of money. The cause of the traffic mess is the people themselves so it's only right that those causing the traffic problem should be fined and the fine should hurt. That way, the fines will pay for the cost of enforcing the law. The fines should start at P500 and goes up every week if you don't pay it within 15 days. To enforce this and prevent people from ignoring the fine. It will be tied to their driver's license or car registr...
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Fire at Tutuban Center

There was a fire at Tutuban Center Mall's Cluster Building 1 in Divisoria. The fire started around midnight yesterday. The mall is full of stores selling textiles and clothes which makes it difficult to contain and adds fuel to the fire.

Here are some photos of the fire taken by some friends.
Fire at Tutuban Center Cluster Building 1
Photo courtesy of Rob Chan
Photo courtesy of Cary Yu
Photo courtesy of Jayson Agero Ngo

The following photos are from TXTFIRE PHILIPPINES's Facebook Page.



The famous Ube fire brigade of Chinatown


At 30 hours and counting. Courtesy of DZMM TeleRadyo

I heard from the grapevine that the fire may have been set on purpose. This is because Tutuban Center is actually owned by the government and the tenants don't rent the stall indefinitely nor did they buy it. They bought a right to rent it for 25 years and the agreement is ending by 2014. If they want to renew, they will have to pay a hefty fee to renew their rights and most tenants do not want to pay for it.

It also took too long for firefighters to respond and there were rumors that those that did respond where spraying the fire with water and gasoline. Whether that's true or not, I don't know. But there's always somebody saying that whenever there's a big fire in the Philippines.

It's also said that SM would be interested or would be taking over Tutuban, but instead of renewing the lease of the tenants or paying for the cost of demolishing the building, they set it on fire and have the insurance company pay for the cost of demolition.

What makes this rumor plausible is because the fire burned for 3 days and the only buildings affected was Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 which is where the lease is coming up. The other buildings like Center Mall and Prime Block were not affected. Granted, they are separated by a road from Cluster 1 and 2, but the lease on those buildings are not coming up until another 5 years or so.

Any time there's a big fire in the Philippines, there's always rumors flying around about how fires are started for the insurance money. I hope it's not true, but knowing the Philippines, it probably is.

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