Listening to the radio program of the city government yesterday, I had the impression that City Hall is helplessin so far as the problem of bad roads in Tagbilaran is concerned. In fact City Engineer PianisitaCastoloappeared like it was the first time she heard about the complaints of the residents. What made matters worse wasthat she has no definite timeline for the solution to the road problems. How in the world did it happen that the City Government has no road maintenance fund this year? I hope I did not hear her correctly when she mentioned that the city has no maintenance fund this year. She said patching of potholed streets has already started but how come motorists and commuters did not see patching work being done on roads considered priority areas like those with heavy traffic as a result of rerouting because of concerting works. Castolo'sdefense for her office's ineptitude was to ask the people to continue to be patient. She seems to have forgotten that Tagbilaran residents have suffered for more than four years already and their patience is in the verge of exhaustion.

It may be reasonable to say that roads under contract for improvement or rehabilitation are under the responsibility of contractors. But what about the roads that are not under contract? Who should take care of their maintenance? Should it not be the City government through the city engineer's office? Unfortunately, Engr.Castoloseems not ready to take responsibility. If this is not so, why are most of the roads not under contract in their worse condition? If the city government sees it as its responsibility, we won't see unattended potholes as big as a truck's tire. Then residents need not call the Mayor during his radio program to complain about the sad state of the city roads.

On the other hand, will the new set of barangay officials who have taken their oaths Friday be able toimprove the situation? Today is the beginning of the term of office of the new set of barangay officials who won in the November 25 special barangay election in Bohol. They start their term with the greatest challenge of rebuilding their community that has been ravaged by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake last October 15. What makes their job reassuring is the fact that a lot of the physical infrastructures like roads, bridges, schools have been taken cared of by the national government. Electricity has also been slowly restored although rotational brownouts of four to six hours are still experienced.

For Tagbilaran City barangay officials, especially those in the three Barangay Poblaciones, the potholes will be staring them in the face. They better have plans of action already on how to address the problemof potholed roads in their barangays.

As the smallest political subdivision, the barangay is the first line of almost everything. First line of public service, which includes seeing to it that basic services are provided the constituents like roads, water, power, education and health and peace and order. They need to start with good first impression because first impression will spell whether people have reasons to cheer for their election to their posts.

Some local media personalities have made it as barangay officials as well. Will they make good barangay officials? As media persons they have been trained to be observant and look for whatintereststhe public that public officials may have missed. Will they be as good in looking for solutions to the problems that they used to call the attention of public officials to? We will see in the few weeks and months later.

NOTES. With the opening of the Abatan Bridge to traffic, I was able to visit Maribojoc and Loon for the first time after the October 15 monster earthquake. I still shed tears seeing the rubble of what used to be the Maribojoc and Loon stone churches. They are now irreplaceable. What caught my attention and those who have visited Maribojocfor the first time is one of its tourist attraction- the Punta Cruz watch tower that has been toppled and is now more than 100 meters away from the sea. Motor bikers can now have a new treat – motor biking to Loon from Punta Cruz via the shorelines.The corals that used to line the seabed of PuntaCruz are now dead corals and dried under the heat of the scorching sun. When mounted on wooden or fiberglass base, these can give enterprising Maribojocanon good livelihood. Even the dried see grass can be used to make beautiful Christmas decors.