When it comes to political issues or any issue involving the popular political figures in the Philippines, netizens usually end up in heated discussions on social media sites. One issue that has become a hot topic recently is credit grabbing.
So when a certain Raven Castillo Alejo posted a meme about what she claimed as a ‘flyover sa Terninal 3 to avoid heav traffic,” despite the spelling errors, it still incited reactions from other netizens on Facebook. She also posted about how great President Rodrigo Duterte’s achievements are, something that no one can surpass, for having that flyover constructed even before hitting the 30th day of his presidency.
“Hindi pa nga nakaka isang buwan, di na maabutan ang mga achievements! No president can surpass President Dutrtes achievements,” Alejo said in her caption.
She continued by addressing the supporters of former President Benigno Aquino III by writing, “Kala nyo mga Noytard kayo lang marunong manira ng araw???? Makaganti paminsan minsan.”
What could she be so angry over and what was she trying to get revenge for?
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A little exploration of the meme itself and the comments section should give a better insight into Alejo’s motivation for posting what she did.
The meme is of a photo of an expressway with “Tatak DU30” in large, red, bold letters and more words saying, “Thank you Mr President Duterte for this project!!! The best president ever.”
As expected of netizens favoring different political figures and parties, several netizens reacted to Alejo’s post.
One of the commenters tried to correct Alejo, saying that the project was actually called Skyway P3 that was launched during Aquino’s administration. That commenter, Arden Glenn Buanzon, clarified that Aquino only attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the project but that it was funded by Skyway, not the government.
Some commenters were accusing Alejo of credit grabbing, citing that Aquino deserved the credit because it was during his administration that the project started.
When other users, even those who identified themselves as Duterte supporters, said that they did not believe Alejo and urged her to be careful about posting on Facebook, she admitted that she knows how the project isn’t Duterte’s. She also said that she just wanted to get back at other people, specifically the ‘Noytards’ by ruining their day with her credit-grabbing.
But another commenter revealed that her little sarcastic line and defense about about getting back at other people was actually just added a few hours after she made her first post. It seemed like she truly meant to promote the expressway as Duterte’s achievement, judging by her original post.
The second line in her post seemed like an after-thought, with one commenter pointing out, “Well your punch line is edited te! Wag mu masyado ipahiya sarili mu by covering your own stupidity with another stupidity.” This just started an angry exchange of comments between Alejo and the commenter who called her out.
After some research, it turned out that the project is actually called Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 (MMS 3), which was launched in January 2014, the event of which was graced by Aquino himself.
As to who funded the project, a Philippine Star article reported that it was financed through the public-private partnership (PPP) by the government. The 14.8km, six-lane expressway was designed to link the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), cutting the travel time from the south to the north of Metro Manila, making it around 15 to 20 minutes.
According to Aquino during the MMS 3 inauguration, “Di po ba, halos dalawang oras, ‘pag minalas, ang inaabot natin dito dahil sa siksikan sa mga kalsada? Kapag nabuksan na po itong MMS 3, papatak na lang sa 15 to 20 minuto ang biyaheng iyan.”
Skyway Project Phase 1 was the construction of a six-lane, 10km elevated expressway from Gil Puyat to Bicutan, which started construction in April 1995 and opened in October 1999.
Phase 2 was the construction of a 7km elevated expressway, which ran from Bicutan to Alabang’s South Station, which started in June 2009 and was completed in April 2011.
Phase 3 was launched to lighten the heavy traffic in Metro Manila. It was launched in January 2014, but its construction started in February of the same year. Its expected completion date is in April 2018.
The Metro Manila Skyway project did pass several administrations and it is expected to continue under Duterte’s administration. It really is an ongoing project that is meant to benefit everyone who uses these expressways.
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