Bayani = hero

I am not much of a politics person and not really delve into this topic much but in the case of Bayani Fernando, I will make an exception. As our current MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) Chairman who is more popularly known to have built pink fences all over the metropolis to regulate traffic and painted overpasses a bright pink as well, I have no qualms about his projects and plans. Not even his color preference.

As the Mayor previously of Marikina, he was a very effective leader in giving a nearly dead river a lease on new life and made it a very homey place for bicycles and promenading. He fixed transportation and garbage concerns. Marikina is a very nice place indeed to live in (and we have even contemplated on transferring there too) and was even featured in the homemaking magazine Real Living.

He is a person of action. He does not merely give out directions and go blah blah to the masses. He is right there in the thick of things. He had islands between streets decorated. Trees were planted alongside roads. He is proposing a bicycle lane.

Alas, the law prohibits him from taking action on some of his plans and some mayors find his actions intrusive that they resort to scoffing. One mayor even had the trees (some of them bananas) planted by MMDA uprooted even if the place where they were planted were unattended soil by the roadside. I do not see anything wrong with the plants being planted there. This move could have been welcomed for the environment but apparently, it might have been interpreted for something else. I wish they can also walk the walk and talk the talk.

I saw his televised interview a couple of nights ago as he details his plans, projects, and how he is coping on the pressure from his detractors (he was quite cool about it) and found new respect for the man. I salute you, Mr. Bayani Fernando!

PS. There was a research conducted years ago in US prisons to see which color would ease an inmate. The result? Pink.