Penalizing pedestrians in Makati, Part 2

I already posted last March about Makati City hall officers and bureaucrats penalizing pedestrians crossing this part of Buendia or Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. The issues here for me are the following:

(1) NO sign of pedestrian crossing not allowed,
(2) NO info of any local ordinance, barangay or city hall that prohibits people from crossing this side of Buendia,

(3) NO warning of 1st time "offenders" who actually crossed the street, outright collection of penalty (about P250) or confiscation of  an ID is immediately imposed,
(4) NO warning of potential "offenders" who did not actually cross the street, outright collection  of penalty or confiscation of an ID
(5) NO distinct uniforms by the apprehending bureaucrats (like yellow shirts of MAPSA, blue shirts of MAPA, light blue shirts of the PNP), they wear different dresses, and
(6) Why impose lots of prohibitions, NOs, to ordinary people?
Ordinary people do not drive cars too often, they commute, so they walk in various streets to get to their destination at the shortest distance/time possible.

Here, one officer (the fat guy) harassing two ordinary people, they look "probinsyano" and may not be aware of the various prohibitions and NOs of Makati.

The older officer harassing another pedestrian.

Three officers here, one wearing an ordinary shirt (in stripes), the two are wearing red jackets, something like "Makati Action Center".

Two hapless pedestrians confronted by the city hall officers.

I saw this girl, she was about to cross the street but this officer in white collar shirt with no ID called her, so she did actually cross the street, but she was still penalized -- on what crime or violation? I approached the officer why he has no ID, he pulled it from under his shirt, his family name is Tan I think, I hardly read because he quickly returned it under his shirt.

What is the "public service" value of these officers? I think zero, or even negative. We taxpayers already pay for their salaries, bonuses, trainings and meetings, social contributions, future pensions, etc. We pay for all of those and they serve us with what? Penalties and harassment?

I think a better public service work for these and other city hall officers and employees is to clean this creek. I took this photo around late June this year. On the left of this photo is the Makati Central Post office; on the right is a small Makati public park, in the front is the Makati Central fire station where MAPSA is also holding an office. So it is a creek surrounded by government offices and properties, and it is so dirty.

These floating garbage and solid waste should be regularly removed because they largely contribute to frequent street flooding.

Opposite view of the earlier photo. The park on the left, post office on the right, and Buendia in the front, not far from where the "anti-jay walking" officers regularly position themselves. Buendia-Ayala intersection is half-block away on the left.

Are these officers members of MAPSA?
Incidentally, I attended this event last July 13 in Makati City hall open ground. My rotary club was among the sponsoring clubs of the event.

Acting Makati Mayor Kid Pena, can you stop this harassment-penalties of ordinary pedestrians? Instead of prohibiting people from crossing this side of Buendia, there should be a pedestrian lane instead. It's a traffic-choke area most anyway, morning or afternoon, vehicles do not drive fast there. There are many buildings and offices on both sides of this street, so there are many employees and visitors, even university students (CEU) crossing this street often.

And instead of using our tax money to pay for people whose concept of "public service" is public harassment, use our tax money to clear those ugly creeks, especially near Buendia-Ayala.

Thank you.
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See also: 
Towing 2: Confiscating Motorcycles, September 22, 2013

Anti-Smoke Belching Racket, Part 7, February 13, 2015 

Penalizing Pedestrians, Other LGU Prohibitions, March 26, 2015

On Taking Photos of Government Personnel and MAPSA, May 28, 2015

BWorld 4, Public Transport, Colorum Vans and MAPSA, May 29, 2015

(Not so) Dirty Creeks 2: Makati again

My first posting on this subject was last January 18, 2011, Dirty creeks 1: Makati. Here are two of the six photos that I showed there. This is on a creek in front of Makati Medical Center (MMC), a known and expensive hospital in the country.

A few months after I posted it, I noticed that the creek has been regularly cleaned. A personnel of Barangay San Lorenzo where this creek belongs, wrote in the comment section,

"dear sir,
FYI , barangay San Lorenzo has already assigned creek cleaners who will clean, dessilt the garbages in urban creek area. thats beside the mapa office near makati med.they were assigned to clean it regularly.
thank you"

I checked the creek and there was indeed a regular cleaner boat there. Here are the photos I took sometime in early July 2012, about a month ago.

The solid wastes floating on the creek are gone, nice to see this. Of course the water is not really clean, it came from upstream.

Here, notice the informal settlers just beside the creek, this is in front of MMC.

In that posting last year, I also showed photos of a creek in Barangay San Antonio. It was dirty. Now it is clean, here are photos I took last week, early August 2012. There are wild plants and trees that grow on the creek. They are unsafe because some dangerous wild animals would be hiding there. Or worse, some criminals being chased can jump into the creek and hide behind those thick shrubs and trees.

It is good that the Makati City government, not the barangay government, ordered the cleaning of this creek. Lower photos are among the tree parts and mud that were collected, to be transported by trucks.

I am happy that the local government is doing its job cleaning dirty creeks. Makati is the financial center of the Philippines. It is not good that the surroundings like its small creeks are dirty and ugly. I hope that such clean up will be done regularly.