Aubrey came home early yesterday afternoon. She told me that she deliberately skipped her varsity volleyball training because she knew that it would be difficult to get home afterward. I told her that she made a wise decision. This is what the traffic and the flooded streets really come to: our children missing out on many good things that they want and that they deserve.

During my father's time there was no such thing as bad traffic. It all began during my time, and went on during my sons' time, and now still exists during my grandchildren's time. That's three generations of unresolved traffic and flooding problems, and I think that I shall die without seeing things go back to normalcy.

A root of the problem is overpopulation and not necessarily discipline. There are a lot more people in Metro Manila today than in my father's time. High-rise condominiums continue being built, inviting more and more people to move in and seek employment while turning a blind eye to the un-modern streets that they need to pass through. The blind eye extends to the convoluted electrical, telephone, and cable wiring that foreigners laugh at and even come to see and photograph.

Metro Manila is overpopulated because it is over-promoted. The fact is, it is NOT the best place in the Philippines to live, work, and have fun. Even alleged "Beverly Hills" locations such as Forbes Park and Dasmarinas Village are not as classy as they are made out to be. The houses there are mere illusions, and are nothing more than 1960s-fixated structures, some of which are merely rented out to gullible embassies. Yes, while the rest of Southeast Asia worked hard and moved on, the Philippines smugly sat back and stopped dreaming in the 1960s. This was, unfortunately, made worse in the 1970s, because martial law discouraged people from thinking for themselves.