We go with the proposal offered by second district councilor Louie John Bonguyan to declare the entire Davao City under a state of calamity. That is, insofar as the issue of the presence of the African Swine Fever (ASF) in the city is concerned.
Yes, the younger Bonguyan, son of former Davao City Vice Mayor, and now Development Bank of the Philippines director Luis Bonguyan, believes that doing this will allow for the maximum allocation of budget for responding to calamities including the ASF. From that bulk budget the city can immediately set aside financial assistance to affected swine raisers based on the number of swine they have, and not by piece meal, depending on which barangay the infestation of the hog killer disease has been found prevalent
The system being adopted now by the city government in giving assistance to the affected swine raisers is that where there are reports that certain barangays have the presence of ASF these have still to be validated by the City Agriculturist Office, the City Veterinarian’s Office, and the Department of Agriculture (DA) regional office. The findings will be submitted to the Executive Department which, depending on its interpretation of the situation, will initiate moves to have the Sangguniang Panlungsod declare any or all of the areas monitored under a state of calamity.
Thus, chances are, the amount of money to be set aside to prevent the spread of the ASF, as well as provide financial assistance to affected swine raisers, will be influenced or determined by the actual number of hog raisers as well as the number of heads of animals the raisers have.
We can be certain that Bonguyan’s proposal is not laced with the toxicity of politics. Instead it could be a product of his desire to give genuine service.
May be the other members of the City Council can ponder on the relevance of the Bonguyan pronouncement, and find his proposal worthy of consideration.
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We’ve heard it from the grapevine that Davao City’s first district congressman Paolo Duterte is starting to manifest his great frustration to the contractor of the Catalunan Grande Road expansion project.
Yes, according to sources from the grape vine, the Presidential son is pissed off by the contractor’s failure to deliver the finished product on time.
But of course we can understand his dissatisfaction of the contractor’s performance. Why would not the congressman of the first district where Catalunan Grande belongs be mad at the contractor, Ulticon Builders, Inc., when it already has a slippage of two (2) years? The scheduled completion of the project was last January 2018.
The date is one of the information provided on several billboards put up in strategic locations along the road subject of the expansion from 2 to 4 lanes.
We can only assume that the delay could have been caused by the problem of road-right-of-way acquisition. And we are somewhat certain about it because Catalunan Grande has become a fast rising residential/commercial haven after it extricated itself from the hacienda type and later rebel infested community.
With property value sky-rocketing, understandably no one would like to surrender even a square inch of his or her property without what they believe is fair compensation. And there are many of these from among the Catalunan Grande residents especially those who own residential and commercial properties hit by the expansion project.
Nevertheless, should we fully put the blame on the contractor for the delay in the project completion? Should officials in government agencies concerned, the first district congressman included, be made to share in the blame?
Let us not forget that it is the government that prepares the budget for the project implementation and we are certain one of the items included in the appropriation is the right-of-way acquisition cost. Why the proponent of the project failed to consider the classification status of Catalunan Grande, as well as the consciousness level of its residents on the potentials of the barangay, we could not give even an iota of idea.
But of course we agree that two years of delay is long enough not to raise suspicion that the builder could be enjoying some support from influential people in government. Yes, how come that in all those months of the slippage it is only now that we heard of a howl of complaint from the congressman?
Is there so much distance of his office and residence that it is only now that he is able to see the frustrating delay? Are the offices of the DPWH and the District Engineer so far from Catalunan Grande that they seem unable to observe the snail-paced progress of the construction?
Yes, we believe that it is about time that the first district congressman of Davao City starts throwing his weight around if he feels he has a reputation to protect as the former barangay captain of Catalunan Grande.
