Let us continue our discussion of the implementation of the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act.
Pending the government’s purchase of the required Alcohol Breath Analyzer (ABA) which reportedly sold for P68,000 in 2016, it would be better for any household with several members who are regular imbibers of alcoholic drinks to buy cheaper devices costing between P500 to P1,500 now available in online commerce sites.
The devices could be used to measure the alcohol intoxication of family members and guests before allowing them to go home.
Under the law, the only safe Blood Alcohol Content is 0.0%, meaning a driver should not have drunk alcohol before taking the wheel.
Anything more than 0.0%, or even just one drink, is more than conclusive proof of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Studies show driving skills are impaired when the BAC level in a human body is between 0.02% to 0.07% depending on the body weight of the driver.
Anything above a BAC level of 0.08% means the driver is legally intoxicated from having imbibed two to five drinks of liquor.
A drink is equivalent to 1.5 ounces or 45 ml of 80-proof liquor, a bottle of 5% proof beer, or 150 ml of 12% proof wine.
The simpler solution, of course, is not to drink alcohol, which when taken in excess results in the splitting headache and body weakness of the hangover.
It is claimed to avoid a hangover, one must drink only a bottle of beer or a shot of gin in an hour.
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More than two years after super typhoon Rolly devastated the hinterland barangay of Dugui Too, the village appears to have recovered from the effects of the flooding that washed away houses and inundated the barangay proper.
That day, a resident said, a landslide occurred downstream of the river, blocking the waterway until the muddy water reached the floor of the barangay chapel which looks out upon most houses.
The flooding washed away many houses particularly at the sitio on the opposite side of the river.
A new reinforced-concrete box culvert now spans the crossing where the flood washed away the former pipe culvert but other than that, nothing has been built to shore up the village’s defenses against another flood of the same magnitude.
Only a 30-meter river control dike built before Rolly protects the flank of the village from eroding. The government has yet to extend the structure at least to protect the elementary school compound.
The school’s unroofed multi-purpose building, with columns on one side slightly bent, has yet to be repaired or demolished.
Three years ago, there was reportedly a plan to relocate the residents to the on-going NHA housing project at San Isidro Village but the previous administration politicized the issue.
Recently, there was also a report that the municipal government and the NHA are set to conduct a joint validation of residents who applied for slots in the nearly 1,000-unit housing project, including residents of Dugui Too.
But it appears that the residents of the hinterland barangay is unaware of this.
Barangay Chairman Demcint Beo told the Tribune that the barangay council has yet to submit a list of beneficiaries, much less conduct a meeting regarding this.
“We don’t want to leave behind our livelihood but we are willing to evacuate during a calamity,” he stated.
The first-termer village chief expects many to file candidacies for barangay posts in the upcoming barangay elections, mostly due to the honoraria.
Dugui Too, with over 1,600 people in 330 households, has P3.4 million in National Tax Allotment and enables it to provide monthly honoraria of P9,000 and P7,000, respectively, to its barangay captain and barangay kagawads.
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UNFAITHFUL. A local lawyer was sitting in his office the other morning when in walked a beautiful young lady. Without any preliminaries, she said she wanted a divorce.
“On what grounds?” asked the lawyer.
“I don’t think he is faithful to me,” she replied.
“And what makes you think he isn’t faithful?” asked the lawyer.
“Well,” replied the young lady, “I don’t think he is the father of my child.”