Joseph’s tomb

Just to start this article on a positive note, I’m sure that people of faith and skeptics alike all wonder every now and then about how true scriptures are. Are they just religious promises or is there really “proof of life” in what we read or hear?

For instance: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8: 28).

The Bible verse sort of stuck in my mind about a month ago and I saw evidence of the claim when someone I knew passed away from a medical condition. He and his wife were Christians and active in another church. He had no next of kin in the country and I assumed that his remains would be cremated, perhaps shipped back to his home country.

Unexpectedly, someone donated their paid slot for the chapel, funeral services and plot at Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig. If you inquire about the cost, you will realize that such an act of sacrificial charity costs a lot of zeros on someone’s bank account. But more than that, it reminded me of what Joseph of Arimathea did when he gave his unused tomb to Jesus Christ.

Clearly, it was God showing all of us that he had worked everything out for my friend and his wife.

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I am suffering from Traffic Light Indigestion.

Has anybody noticed the absurd number of traffic lights all over Metro Manila? Have you noticed that in spite of the abundance of traffic lights, these are still manipulated or overridden by traffic enforcers?

Contrary to claims that the MMDA has modernized or computerized traffic management in Metro Manila, a lot of the activity is still done through two-way radios. Yes, there are cameras all over the metro but most of them are focused on major roads and not on side roads which have just the same volume of traffic.

As a result of this selective focus on main streets, what happens is MMDA is “blind” to the traffic build-up along side streets, barangays and commercial establishments. Last week, I saw a Pasig City enforcer exchanging words with a Barrio Kapitolyo enforcer on the side of Shaw Blvd.

The tanod was pissed because Shaw Blvd. was being given “extended” priority at the expense of traffic coming from