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Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Speak out: Talisay's resources
By Art E. Cañares
The legal battle over a portion of the Cebu South Reclamation Project (SRP) will drag on. It could even last a lifetime.
Come what may, the officials of Talisay City have already dug trenches deep enough for them to fight or take flight.
In doing so, they failed to see other potential sources of revenue. They are in a frenzy, like stray pets searching for a meal, knowing all along that they are carrying food on their back.
Actually, Talisay City is endowed with so much resources. Potable water is abundant. Its fine, ebony beaches are veritable gold mines. Let alone the vast business opportunities brought about by the opening of the SRP boulevard. What more can she ask? Needless to say, that with all this thrust of fortune, the young city is not only growing up— it is also playing catch-up with her more affluent neighbors.
But Talisay cannot take advantage of this new development without first settling her old social obligations.
The utter neglect of the historical Poblacion beach resort and the adjoining public market is uncharacteristic of a progressive city. This was the same beach where the American Liberation Forces landed to retake the Province of Cebu from Japanese occupation. This was the hallowed ground that is now being desecrated by a new generation of drug addicts. The very same place that is now under the control of professional squatters who do nothing but pile mounds of garbage.
Sad to say, that for a hallowed place teeming with people from all walks of life, the Poblacion beach resort has only one public toilet. I actually saw not one, but several, foreign tourists looking apprehensive while urinating on a lamp post. What a waste of revenues! Those people are willing to part with hard-earned dollars for the comfort of a decent men’s room.
I do not wish to argue with anyone. Being a resident of Talisay City is enough reason to offer these unsolicited advices to concerned officials:
1. Clear the beach front of squatters’ shanties and, instead, build cottages fitted with comfort rooms.
2. Rehabilitate and transform the public market into a tourist–oriented business enterprise.
3. Under Section 2, paragraph 3 of the Local Government Code of 1991, local government units may coordinate their efforts, services and resources for purposes commonly beneficial to them. As such, the City of Talisay may confer with Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia for a possible joint endeavor as, being a component city, it is under the technical supervision of the Province.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 4, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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