Tony's Take: Perspective and Perception
GLIMPSES ON SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES, Nr.15
By Tony A. San Juan, OCT-Retired
Toronto-Canada
July 6, 2021
URBAN DEVELOPMENT. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a governmental agency that coordinates Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan, in its "Study for Sustainable Urban Development in Metro Cebu and the central Visayas", predicted the "increase of economic activity in the province by 15 times its 2010 level and the creation of one million jobs should the blueprint be implemented by 2050."
Among the key recommendations of the agency in partnership with the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways(DPWH) are the following projects:
1)Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway connecting Cebu and Mactan Island across the Mactan Channel,
2) Metro Cebu Expressway is a 73.75-kilometer project that would connect Naga City to Danao City in Cebu and improve Metro Cebu’s seamless urban inter-modal transport,
3) Madridejos Road connects the three municipalities in the Island of Bantayan – Santa Fe, Bantayan, and Madridejos,
4)The 3.5 km. Montana-San Juan Buenaventura Road,
5) The 2.71 km. Panglao-Tagbilaran City Offshore Connector Bridge
6) Slope Protection, a rockfall barrier along Dumaguete North Road,
7) Candoni-Gatuslao-Basay Road 33 km. connector to the 2 Negros provinces,
8) Alcoy Seawall flood prevention and shoreline protection, and
9). Maria Flood Control Project in Siquijor. "Talagang tuloy-tuloy na ang mga pagawain at lansangang pambayan sa lugar na ito para sa magiging mabuting ekonomiya , magandang kabuhayan at malaking kaginhawaan sa Visayas."
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P-NOY'S PASSING . With the untimely and saddened death of Benigno Simeon "Noynoy' C. Aquino III, the 15th President of the Philippines on June 24, 2021( St. John the Baptist Day) at 61 years of age due to reported renal failure and secondary diabetes, many Filipinos grieved and are thinking and asking a myriad of questions.
These questions no doubt cover the whole gamut of the social, economic, and political situations in the country. Would history judged P-Noy's presidency and his legacy on good terms or differently? Would Filipinos be motivated and roused a third time to reject an authoritarian clown? Would they choose another Aquino, after the deaths of 2 Aquino presidents, or if not a capable, honest, and dedicated Filipino liberal democratic leader?
As some political analysts and consultants admit, Filipinos are not the long so-called "bobotantes" nor derisively the "unintelligent voters" of blaming them when electing candidates gone differently. Filipino voters strive to discern, decide and choose what kind of national leader they like based upon what the presidential candidate promised to do and will be doing. This early, the election issues in 2022 are grudgingly defined. In many reliable reports and surveys, "Filipinos indicated responses and opinions ranging from opposition to China’s sea incursions in the West Philippine Sea and want the government to do something about it" to the point that majority of Filipinos are continuously "dreaming for a quality of life".
Many Filipinos need jobs and stable employment, decent housing, affordable prices of commodities, abated corruption, controlled smuggling, proper importation policies, prioritized agricultural development, and many other never-ending societal problems like poverty, pollution, and health care Filipinos expect determined actions and desirable accomplishments, not the more common less truthful image-building and glossy reports from paid PR hacks. Filipinos desire true family-based social development and real education, conscious that their degrees qualify them only as temporary foreign-skilled and domestic workers in foreign lands. No amount of ordering them around, threatening them with arrest or jailing, and cursing their God can change those dreams. hopes, and aspirations.
What "que sera sera" come, it's always praying and hoping for the best to come, isn't it or never anymore? "Sa darating na taon, panahon na naman ng halalan at ang taong-bayan ay mamimili na kanilang ihahalal. Malaking pagkakamali na naman kaya ang mangyayari at dahil dito ay walang katapusang pag-sisi at pag-hihirap ang haharapin at dadanasin natin at ng sambayanang Pilipino ?"
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POLLUTED RIVER. The Marilao River, in the Bulacan Province, according to 2 international organizations( World Atlas and Conserve Energy Future), is ranked No. 6 and No. 7 in 2020 as one of the 19 most polluted rivers in the world. The river is home to millions of Philippine residents along the way who use the water not only for drinking exposing themselves to serious health risks but also irrigation and farming activities.
The pollution of the river is mostly from wastes from tanneries, dumping, and gold refineries. The dumping of non-recyclable materials such as plastic bottles is present on the surface of the water. And the water has rocks bearing heavy metals, which pose a health hazard to the residents. The river is "prone to flooding and spreading pollution to the land as the vast majority of waste in this river comes from the surrounding households ."
The "pollution of the water is detrimental to the fish industries in the Philippines since toxic metals such as lead contribute to the death of aquaculture.". The Marilao River flows through the province, emptying into Manila Bay impacting the biological ecosystem and marine life. "Tinatawagan po ang mga mamayan na iwasan ang ganitong pag-wawalang bahala sa ating kalikasan. At sa ating Kagawaran ng Kalususugan at Kagawaran ng Kapaligiran na gumawa ng mabuting paraan at pamamalakad para maiwasan at mawala itong nakakasirang pulyuson sa bansa.". ( TONY A. SAN JUAN, OCT-RETIRED)