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Monday, September 05, 2005
Hebrona: 22 Good Things About Gensan 3
By Bronx Hebrona
Mind Your Business
(Last Part)
THIS week, we give you the last part of Gwyn Clarisa's piece on the good and promising things about Gensan:
13. Prices of commodities, cost of living in General Santos is still minimal. Mas mura at presko ang ating mga isda, baboy, baka, mga prutas at gulay. Additionally, kung mas masipag-sipag lang din tayo, eh makakapagtanim-tanim pa rin tayo at makapag-alaga pa rin ng manok, baboy at kung ano pang hayop sa ating mga bakuran.
14. And yes, your favorite Lion's Beach has already improved. Wala nang mga squatters. Its cleanliness and general appearance has actually improved. The local government has a very good development plan for the area and we hope it gets implemented.
15. The city has the highest employment rate in the country today, what with its more than 90% employment rate. Much of this employment is due to the plants and canneries in the area, which are all labor-intensive.
Additionally, the fishing industry provides a very lucrative alternative to employment. (i.e. fishing, trading, financing, brokering and all other businesses that can be generated from the industry.)
16. Yung dating tinatawag nating Uhaw is now the city's most populous Barangay. And yes, wala ng gaanong problema sa tubig, courtesy of our local water system company. General Santos City remains one of the country's fortunate cities with adequate supply of potable water that can last for the next hundred years. Imagine and compare that with Cebu's problem. Maaring mawalan na sila ng potable drinking water in 20 years time. They are already looking at possible cooperation with the local government of Bohol for their water supply or possible construction of desalination plants to provide for their water requirements.
17. We have at least four malls. KCC, Gaisano Mall, RD Plaza which also houses Fit Mart and SM (Sa Maranao). That's too much choices already for a city of 450 thousand people.
18. If you are on the lookout for investments, buying pieces of properties in General Santos City is recommended. Real estate prices in the city are presently down given the bad peace and order situation perception but the outlook in the future (10 to 20 years from now) is generally promising.
19. Around 30% of the country's rice produce in 2004 come from the SOCSKSARGEN and North Cotabato area. Around 40% of the country's vegetables and fruits come from the same area. All in all, Mindanao provides around 45% of the country's food requirements.
20. Rodrigo Rivera, the city's most prominent businessman is one of the country's best entrepreneurs for 2004. In fact he was named the country's best entrepreneur in the field of agriculture. He was credited for helping build and putting where it is now the Fishing Industry in the country and in Asia-Pacific. As it is, Mr. Rivera still has substantial investments in our city and continually helps in its progress and development. He believes so much in our city, why can't we?
21. 60% of our land is productive. The remaining 40% is still a large place to improve on but that statistics says that our area is the most productive area in the country today. Masisipag yung mga tao natin and just for that, it says a lot. Napakalaki ng tsansa ng ating lugar given the kind of populace that we have. In terms of population growth, we are growing by more than 10%, far higher than the national growth rate. But if we take a closer look at it, most of the growth is attributed to migration to our place.
More and more Filipinos are finding our place safer and profitable to live in. Fact is, only 2.5% of the more than 10% growth in population in the city can be attributed to childbirth. Hindi lang tayo mas masipag, mas responsable pa.
22. Our city has produced a lot of talented and productive citizens of this country. Among them are senior officers of various banks in our country, successful businessmen and OFWs. And what's more, all of these people have never turned their backs on our city. Though most of them are away, their hearts and minds are still where their home is.
Above are just 22 of many positive aspects of our city. Let's go beyond the thinking that the only good thing about our city is our tuna and Manny Pacquiao.
Instead, let's train ourselves to think that apart from Tuna and Manny Pacquiao, there is still a lot of good things in our city.
And for the areas that our city has failed, we are still working on it.
* * * * *
(You may write Bronx Hebrona at P.O. Box 46430, Gen. Santos City 9500, or email him at binex@asia.com. He hosts Radyo Negosyo, a weekly radio program that promotes entrepreneurship and financial literacy, every Sunday at 9-10 am over DXBB AM (RGMA Superadyo) at 1107 KHz. He is President-Convenor of the Socsargen Financial Intelligence Network, Inc., which promotes financial literacy and entrepreneurship in the region)
(September 5, 2005 issue)
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