COMMUTERS are by now so familiar with the sight while on the viaduct portion of the Cebu South Coastal Road they no longer look at it with interest. But I often look that way while riding the bus, with my mind drifting to some other thought after a cursory glance. I am referring to the patch of marine trash formed by the current on one side of the waters near the Pasil fish market.
I still have to see children, who frequent the waters of the place either to swim or to ride on barotos, actually walk on top of the marine dump. But I reckon that time and the mixture of soil carried to the sea by erosion in the city’s mountain barangays have solidified the dump. The garbage got trapped by the sea current and the formation of the shoreline plus, of course, the urban blight there.
This was the image that first came to mind when I read the report that a group led by the Rotary Club is launching a cleanup drive in Cebu similar to what has been done in Boracay and the Manila Bay. In a way, government officials should be ashamed for not thinking about this first.
I say something substantial can be done to improve the look of Cebu City’s shoreline. There was an attempt by the administration of former mayor Michael Rama to make the Pasil area breathe, sort of by improving access especially in the cramped near sea areas. But changes of leadership in the City made sure those attempts would be erratic.
Almost every good effort is actually erratic because of the lack of inspired leadership especially in government. Private initiatives can be shortlived because these activities are mere add-ons to private individuals’ main job of making a living. That is precisely why we have a government to attend to these concerns.
The reality is that the City’s failings in solid waste management are being reflected in the trash floating in our seas. And government, not the private sector, should take much of the blame for it. Private initiatives like those “scubasurero” projects of old only complement a government-based initiative.
I am sure, for example, that city government officials have seen how urban blight is making our seas dirty and clogging up our waterways. Yet we still have to see long-term efforts to address the problems brought about by urbanization. Nowhere is this truer than in Pasil where urban blight is most visible (in Cebu City at least) and government neglect is most apparent.
Interestingly, has the cleanup issue aurfaced as the campaign for the elections this May heats up? This should be one of the issues that should be tackled by local bets because how they will promise to deal with urban blight will reflect upon their capability to lead especially in an urbanized setting like Metro Cebu.
Voters, too, should consider this an important concern. More often than not more important concerns get lost as voters get swayed by financial aid and, worse, money meant to directly buy their votes. That, in a way, is the problem with our politics. Politicians and voters alike cannot look beyond their selfish interests and into the common good.