Two Tough Guys

General Filipino Amoguis is one tough guy. He was made “Traffic Czar”, head of the local Roads and Traffic Administration (RTA) by Mayor Jaraula nine months ago. He probably has the toughest job in the city. I used to hear people laugh about the RTA. Not anymore. Now I hear them complaining about the RTA.

Amoguis cannot reform RTA overnight, but he has come a long way in the short time he has been in office. General Amoguis has the personal fortitude of will to make the changes necessary, and to put up with all the crap he gets in return. He’s a tough guy, in a tough job. My hat is off to Tinnex’s wise move in appointing him to head the RTA.

I wrote a post back in February about how I thought the traffic would just be snarled out of control and totally unmanageable in Cagayan de Or due to the resurfacing of many of the downtown streets, Hell on Wheels, but despite my proclamations of what I expected to happen, the traffic does not seem much worse than it was before. The reason for that is the RTA is out there in the streets every day directing traffic and surprisingly, even beginning to enforce some traffic laws.

I, on the other hand, I can’t and thus don’t dance, a la Pulitzer Prize winner Norman Mailer’s “Tough Guys Don’t Dance”, a novel that was later turned into a movie, and directed by Norman Mailer himself. It was probably his worst novel, and most definitely his best movie.

The movie was released in 1987 and was slayed by critics and audiences. It did not even sell $1 million in tickets. I loved the movie though. It is surreal at times, totally hilarious, and unpredictable. I bet this was one movie that Quentin Tarantino studied hard before he started writing and directing movies.

Anyway, when I say “Two Tough Guys”, I mean that Fil Amomuis is a real tough guy, but me, I just don’t dance.  When girls ask me to dance, or rather, used to, before I got married, I would just tell them no, I don’t dance.  When they asked why, I told them “I’m a tough guy, and tough guys don’t dance.”  Basically, it’s just a way of saving face.  I’m not really a tough guy, I cry when watching movies all the time.

I even cried when I saw Bern Gabaon crying at the last meeting of the Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro for the Rotary year 2007-2008, during which time she was the President of the Rotary Anns.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 14th, 2008 at 05:31 and is filed under Cagayan de Oro, Philippines Driving, Philippines Eagles, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.