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Saturday, August 13, 2005
Roperos: My shipbuilding town
By Godofredo M. Roperos
Politics Also
There was much to think about after some of our best economic minds let go of their deepest thoughts. This happened at mid-week during the Sun Star Economic Forum 2005 at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino here in the city.
But I was more drawn to the short, concise presentation of Robert Aboitiz, chairman and chief executive officer of the Aboitiz Construction Group, on the state of the shipbuilding industry in the Aboitiz industrial park in my hometown.
It was heartwarming to hear that even if my hometown is on the other side of Cebu island, on the central west coast, it is starting to stand on its own, economically.
This is because it has developed an industry that is unique to this province. How it came about I cannot really say since I have not lived there for quite sometime now. But lately, I have been visiting the place and have been impressed.
It was not until the talk of Mr. Aboitiz that I realized what has been cooking in the villages by the sea on the southern part of town where, until the late '60s, was still a favorite bathing place of my kin and friends.
There were mangrove areas then, a favorite spawning ground of sea life. These vanished in the '70s when things began to happen there. But one has to make a hard choice between two equally important things.
We could have fought to retain the natural setting of a place, preserve it for our social and spiritual equanimity or allow it to be altered to accommodate development that would redound to the material improvement of people's lives.
It is a difficult choice to make for the leaders of my town. But I am glad they decided for the benefit of the many who are materially deprived, instead of the few who, though not materially well off, are still able to enjoy the comforts of life.
Thus, before I knew it, the landscape of Barangays Arpili and Buanoy changed. It was in the latter barangay were we hid during the war. It was there where I learned to climb mountains, scale cliffs, trapped birds of the wild dove variety, snare wild cocks, and hunt monkeys.
Today, the landscape I used to hold in my mind's eye has almost vanished and in its stead is a booming industrial community providing livelihood to the people not only in Balamban but also to migrants from other towns and provinces who have the skills that my hometown could not provide.
And I should have objected to the alteration of the landscape of my boyhood. When a group of aggressive environmentalists first came, I was confronted with the dilemma whether to support their cause or fight it.
I chose to go against them, simply because hundreds of families would be displaced if the newly opened ship manufacture should abruptly cease operation. It was a question of social responsibility for the leaders of the town.
The question boiled down to a simple scenario. A choice between the economic life of the people working in the industrial park or the ephemeral issue on the preservation of the environment that, with care, can be compensated elsewhere. The people's choice is obvious.
And so, as Mr. Aboitiz articulated in his short talk, the economy of Balamban is assured, on top of the pride our people should enjoy in the thought that a small town in a nondescript corner of the earth is producing luxury and cargo boats for the world.
(August 13, 2005 issue)
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