MONTHS BACK, there was this proposal brought up at the Davao City Council. The proposal is for the establishment of three separate terminals for public utility buses (PUB) plying the routes going south, and another one for PUBs going north. Another terminal is eyed to be constructed in the Calinan area, which we assume, is intended for PUBs plying the Davao City-Bukidnon-Cagayan de Oro route and vice versa.
From that time on, we have yet to hear of any positive development on the three proposed projects. In fact, the people of Davao City were bullish about that plan because it was seen as a possible solution to the burgeoning traffic problem in the urban areas.
What happens to these proposed terminal facilities? Have these been set aside in favor of other projects that the city officials feel are more beneficial to them rather than to the bulk of the Davaoeños?
Honestly, we believe that delaying the proposed north, south, and northwest terminals will only worsen the traffic situation in the city. Why, because with the single bus terminal at Ecoland in Matina, all travelers to other cities and provinces in Mindanao will be having themselves transported to the one and only bus terminal. Thus, this could further congest the roads leading to the lone facility.
But what is/are the major cause or causes of the non-implementation of such important projects as bus terminals to be located outside of the city’s urban center? Is it the local government’s lack of financial resources to foot the cost of the three terminals? Is it the non-availability of appropriate-sized land within which to build the terminal buildings?
We cannot help but ask because the worsening traffic situation in the city will likely overtake faster than the timetable of the completion of the mentioned terminal projects, considering the latter’s pace.
Can we possibly hope that the members of the next City Council will be awakened from their deep slumber and realize that they are already very much late in realizing the importance of terminal facilities in both the north, south, and northwest of the city proper?
But wait, what is this report on the construction of the terminals to be harmonized with the implementation of the Davao City Public Transportation Modernization Project? There were talks lingering around for some time already that the modernization project, also known as the Davao Bus Project, might be jeopardized due to the parting of ways of the Dutertes now lording it over the local administration, and incumbent Malacañang tenant Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.?
If true, then it is kissing goodbye to the three outside-of-city proper terminal projects?
Meanwhile, every commuter in the city is encouraged to enjoy the little easing of the traffic situation that may take as long as two months. This little lull is brought about by the regular school break now in progress in most public and private schools.
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Well, when the President demanded that all members of his Cabinet, including those heading minor co-terminus agencies, we thought he was serious in his assessment that there were failures from among his alter egos in running the government.
But based on the latest announcement made by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin of those whose courtesy resignations were rejected or accepted, it turned out that most Cabinet secretaries are retained. Those who were ousted and replaced were heads of minor or insignificant agencies.
In other words, if the intention of the supposed revamp is to improve the delivery of government services through the various departments, then it now seems the low or perhaps non-performers are those heads of agencies that the government can even afford without.
And if the contribution of the agencies concerned in the attainment of the goals of the government under PBBM is inconsequential, then the so-called revamp is inconsequential as well. Meaning, it is as if there is no revamp in Marcos Jr.’s Cabinet at all.
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Who is or are to blame for the perennial flooding in some low-lying areas in Davao City’s urban center? Who else but our city’s policy makers in conspiracy with the so-called expert urban planners?
Clearly, what is causing the floods is the wanton destruction of the city’s terrain, the approval by the City Council of spot zoning, granting of exemption from the city’s land use ordinance to huge property developers, especially the residential subdivision companies. Such grants are all in the name of development.
Look at what happens to the slopes of the Magtuod mountain ranges right after the barangay hall? Both sides are now becoming sprawling posh residential enclaves. Trees, the roots of which absorb rainwater and prevent massive soil erosion, are leveled to the ground.
Large tracks of land previously planted with coconut and other fruit-bearing trees in Tacunan and Ula are now undergoing development for combined low, middle, and high-end residential subdivisions by the country’s top developer, the Villar group. Similar developments are also all over the city’s suburban areas and are now extending to farming communities.
All of this land use conversion is actually the real culprit in the city’s flooding problem. But all these could not have happened had our policymakers not succumbed to the lure of the city’s desired socio-economic development, specifically in its physical attributes.
Of course, we cannot prevent some people from suspecting that there could be some other lures that cannot easily be ignored.
