WE HAVE it from highly reliable sources that incoming Davao City Mayor has some special very legitimate “interest” in the proper disposal of garbage all around the city. It is for this reason that we are hoping that by the time he sits as city’s chief executive he will get immediate notice of the numerous but still undistributed garbage bins allocated to several rural barangays.
We say “still undistributed” because the large garbage bins are just piled up at certain corners of barangay covered courts for over two years already. Supposedly these receptacles for household refuse should have been immediately placed in strategic areas in the barangays for the residents to dispose of their garbage and where the contracted garbage truck collectors get the same and haul it to the New Carmen dumpsite.
But no, the garbage bins which we are certain cost the City Government of Davao a huge amount of money to procure, are already slowly deteriorating. Some of its handles and covers are already detached most probably because of the possible low quality of the material used in its manufacture.
So, if Mayor Baste can find time to go to barangays especially in the third district, specifically in Tugbok he can easily see the mountain-like piles of the garbage bins seemingly wasted because these are not put to use.
Yes, mayor Baste has all the reasons to visit the barangays in the outskirts of the city proper or city center. After all, he has a lot to thank the people for because of their massive support of his candidacy in the last local elections.
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Outgoing Davao City Mayor and incoming Vice President of the Philippines Sara Duterte-Carpio is reported to have invited both outgoing Vice President Leni Robredo and incoming President Bongbong Marcos Jr. to her oath-taking and inauguration come June 19, 2022. The possibility of BBM attending is, we believe, a done deal. But as for VP Leni’s attendance it is still a big question mark. And if the outgoing Vice President believes in the sincerity of the Marcos-Sara campaign pitch which is unity and in the process reconciliation, then Leni will possibly consider honoring Sara’s invitation.
However, from the looks of it, and from the incessant social media posts of the outgoing Vice President’s camp carried out by those who have no liking of the winning tandem, Robredo’s attendance is a remote possibility.
Nevertheless, if she decides to go against the wishes of her party, political advisers and avidly partisan supporters, then she’ll be “walking her talk” that her primordial consideration in offering her service to the Filipino people is the welfare of the greater number. And she’ll probably make history by becoming the first ever defeated Presidential bet and outgoing VP to grace the inauguration of her successor despite being from an opposition party.
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We can only scratch our head thinking about the paranoia of some people, especially the critics of the outgoing administration and the incoming one, on the indebtedness that the country is into from local and international financial institutions and governments.
They keep on hammering in the people’s minds that the country has nowhere to go but bankruptcy because we will not anymore be able to pay the huge debt. But wait; are we the ones to worry to death because of our debt? Should it not be the lending institutions or other countries extending the Philippines the loan? And why are these financial giants unhesitant to grant the Philippines the loan? Is it not the standard procedure that before any loan is granted the grantor institution or country makes sure the borrower has the capacity to pay and that its capability is backed with necessary legislations that will ensure that the money for payment can be generated?
So why is it that the Philippines easily get the needed loans? It is without doubt that the lender countries find the Philippines and its government to have all what it takes to be a good borrower. And they may possibly believe that the country’s economic fundamentals are well structured that it can continue servicing its debts based on the agreed amortization rates.
Besides, it is good practice by businesses or governments as much as possible to keep whatever resources generated, and borrow money instead to finance projects that will allow itself to pay for the funds invested in its implementation.
That is why we have IPOs, issuance of interest bearing government bonds and other modes of fund raising to foot the bills of this and that project. Of course it is totally another story if the loan agreements entered into by the Philippine government with other loan-granting nations or financial institutions, demand for securities and allow the lender to foreclose on the debt guaranties.
