Davao Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio Gives Birth to "Stonefish"

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara "Inday" Duterte-Carpio has delivered a healthy baby boy they named "Stonefish." In a photo uploaded by her husband, Atty. Manases "Mans" Carpio, we see Sara together with her newborn baby while his husband takes their selfie.

"Stonefish" weighs 2.42 kilos or 5.3 pounds. He was delivered through a cesarean section. The baby was born at 12:56 noon of March 2, 2017.

President Rodrigo Duterte is now off to Davao to see his grandson, and laughingly says the child would be named Marco Digong, nicknamed Stonefish. “Kawawa naman ang bata” he jokingly said.

But is the name a joke? Are they serious with it? Obviously, it must be only a nickname or an alias for endearment because the stone fish we know is a very dangerous fish with venom that is practically fatal to humans!

Should they be tokhanged for naming their child Stonefish?

They named the baby boy Stonefish. Does the couple have two other children named named Sharky and Stingray? Yes! 

Sharky, Stingray, Stonefish.....What's next? Sarciadong Bangus with Tausi.

I hope Stonefish Duterte Carpio ends up marrying Queen Elizabeth Pacquiao.

Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway Groundbreaking Held

Wazzup Pilipinas!

President Rodrigo Duterte together with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Cebu City officials led by Mayor Tomas Osmeña & Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, led the ground-breaking ceremony of the multi-billion Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) in Dapitan-Pilipog, Cordova in Cebu.

The groundbreaking ceremony of the project held on March 2, 2017 was done by conducting an aerial inspection in Cebu City side going to Virlo Public Market in Barangay Dapitan, Cordova town.

The Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway will be like the San Juanico bridge. We hope there will also be a new airport and more railway transits will follow as well. The brdge aims to ease traffic, foster development in the Cebu Province. The bridge will bring greater economic benefit not only in Cordova and Cebu City but to Cebu Province.

The CCLEX, whose construction is set to start this year and anticipated to be completed by 2020, spans 8.25 kilometers linking Mactan Island and mainland Cebu. The bridge will become an alternative route in going to and from Mactan Cebu International Airport. It is the Philippine’s first bridge to have a clearance of 51 meters from the water level and a wide horizontal clearance of 400 meters for ships to navigate.

CCLEC is a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corporation (MPDTC), one of the country’s investment holding firms known to have designed, financed and managed North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway.

The toll bridge will adopt a single-tolling system where a one-time fee will be collected from motorist, instead of paying it at several tolling stations.

MPTDC will operate the bridge for 35 years before the structure is turned over to the local government units.

Cover Photo: Artist perspective of Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway

DOTr, DPWH, MMDA to Enhance Coordination to Address Traffic Woes

Wazzup Pilipinas!

In a bid to alleviate traffic congestion in Metro Manila, the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), met yesterday afternoon to discuss measures to enhance inter-agency coordination, especially on the conduct of road diggings, excavations, and similar works in the region.

The meeting was spearheaded by DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade and DPWH Secretary Mark Villar in order to settle any issue arising from road works, especially on the major thoroughfares of the metropolis.

In the meeting, Usec. Romeo Momo of DPWH requested the MMDA to issue excavation clearance to DPWH districts instead of contractors to prevent delays and for them to efficiently manage road works.

“Instead of issuing permits to contractors, issue it to DPWH and we will ensure that they will abide by our guidelines,” Usec. Momo said.

In order to prevent long delays on project start date, DPWH likewise suggested for the MMDA to allow them to apply for an excavation clearance once a project is advertised instead of waiting until the project has been awarded to a certain contractor.

For her part, MMDA Traffic Discipline Office Director Neomie Recio reminded DPWH to ensure that a Traffic Management Plan be in place before a road work project starts in order to guarantee its minimal effect to traffic flow.

"The contractors should submit their traffic management plan to you so you can review it before passing to us. Once it is submitted to MMDA, we will determine if it is acceptable and recommend necessary adjustments or revisions if needed,” Recio said. “Also, remind these contractors that excavation in major roads are only to be done between 10pm and 5am,” she added.

To sustain the level of coordination and review of existing guidelines, regular inter-agency meetings shall be conducted by the said agencies every 2nd Tuesday of each month. Further, erring contractors shall be determined during such meetings for the imposition of appropriate sanctions.