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Thursday, June 09, 2005
Speak out: Osmeña’s toxic politics
By Sanlakas-Sugbo
For months now, newspapers have headlined the dispute over a portion of the South Reclamation Project (SRP). But what has been omitted and given minimal publicity are the people directly victimized and caught in the crossfire.
There are, for example, the 77 casual employees at the Cebu City Hall who were dismissed from their jobs because they are from Talisay City; the 97 vendors from Talisay who were expelled from Cebu City’s marketplaces; the commuters barred from accessing the South Coastal Road; the communities displaced by the reclamation project’s construction.
The SRP was built in the name of development, but it has exacted a heavy price in return. Hundreds of lives have been affected, most especially the displaced communities.
Their standard of living has worsened because the fisherfolk, the street vendors, the small time handicraftsmen and the lowly-paid workers in Talisay’s many buwaran have been forced to make do with the dwindling income they can derive from their dying livelihood.
Regardless of what city and whose mayor wins in the SRP boundary dispute, the outcome will still have the Cebuanos, not just Cebu and Talisay residents, at the losing end.
The Cebuano taxpayers, the party with the most rightful claim over the SRP, the taxpayers who have become mere collateral damage in the war of the mayors, will be the same taxpayers who will end up paying for the debts acquired for the construction of the SRP.
What kind of politics has bred this vengeful politician who hits innocent people, prohibits the use of public property and use other ploys and machinations just to exact petty revenge?
The kind of politics that breeds such a politician can only be one debilitated by the fatal disease of degenerate morals and values—a toxic kind of politics.
(June 9, 2005 issue)
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