OUR frequent visits to far-flung areas of Davao City has underscored the fact that thousands still can hardly access basic social services; and yet they live in Davao City, hailed as among the most progressive and highly urbanized city in the country.

The same visits have placed into our awareness that in those areas, even the most basic necessities can hardly be accessed, like water.

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It is with this awareness that we call on the people to push for basic services for all as an agenda of governance of all those who are aspiring for a government position, especially the congressmen and councilors -- politicians who sought the votes of the people in their districts that include vast stretches of mountain lands that they haven't even taken the time out to visit.

How much is a roll of plastic hoses that are our mountainfolk's most desired "infrastructure"? It's practically nothing compared to the cost of the thousands of tarpaulin signs of politicians that we see all over the country. But then those plastic hoses can only appreciated by mountain folks far away from the sight of the motoring public, and so, between plastic hoses that are invisible to the general public's eye and tarpaulins, the choice is apparently clear to these types of politicians who have no qualms about staking personal claim over people's money.

That said, the greater concern here is ensuring that the vast hinterlands become an enticing place for our rural folks to carve a sustainable livelihood in. We only need to look out our car windows as we traverse the roads in Marilog and Paquibato to see how these lands when toiled by individual families can produce food that can feed not just the family of toilers but the whole city as well.

We only need to look out our car windows as we traverse the roads in Marilog and Paquibato to see how these lands are hardly toiled because there's no means to water whatever they may plant there beyond their backyards. After all, the politicians have long made their choice between plastic hoses on the mountains and tarpaulins on the highways.

And yet we have chosen to just ignore these people on these lands, and thus we see them coming in trickles into our already cramped urban centers, as unproductive as the vast tracts of land they have left behind.