Hopes are reasonably high that the incoming Dumaguete City administration will move in better directions than did the last one.
Here’s a wish list of what could restore the City to the order and charm of decades ago.
To start with, greening the City will do wonders, and requires no engineering feats. Shade, breezes, better air, the healing sight and company of trees will contribute to the mental and physical health of those who will walk, instead of taking noisy and polluting vehicles.
Why was the National Greening Program quota of 5,000 trees to be planted in the City never implemented? Bluntly, because public officials weren’t interested, didn’t have the sensibility to appreciate the value of the program.
I think I can count the number of grand old acacias and other trees that were felled or lost for other reasons, without being replaced.
In actual fact, in those years, a group of us, with the Department of Environment & Natural Resources and a high-ranking City official identified areas in the City where trees could be planted, species, and timetables were agreed. Then delays upon delays, and personnel changes happened, and the project died, to our great frustration.
How about this time, will the administration understand the value of a green and walkable City? Perhaps imagining themselves in the shoes of those foreign tourists whom everyone seems to want so desperately to attract may lead local officials to realize the unpleasantness of walking today’s City streets.
Related to this is the issue of visual pollution and the growing practices of advertisers, in spite of the City Ordinance disallowing this, and Noreco policies against the use of their poles.
This seems to be a case of “being trained not to see”, namely that long exposure conditions people to accepted mess and ugliness as the natural state of things.
And of course, solid waste remains a scourge. I still have the MetroPost front page picture of Mayor Sagarbarria signing the Plastic Reduction Ordinance in 2011, while some of us stand behind him with hopeful smiles. Nothing useful happened.
Maybe this time? Solid waste is not an intractable problem, the zero-waste strategy can and must be made to work.
Commercial establishments daily handing out many thousands of free plastic bags must stop; the many harms caused by this ubiquitous object are known to all, but addressed by hardly anyone.
Incinerating garbage must stop. As recent research shows the particulates and dioxin released by the City’s pyrolysis facility pose very serious health risks, worse for those living within a two-kilometer radius, and very bad for those five kilometers away.
The operation of the pyrolysis facility violates constitutional provisions, environmental laws, and international standards. It must be closed.
And with regards to the traffic problems, even as businesses compete to sell ever more cars and motorcycles, those in charge appear to be stumped. Widen roads, build overpasses? The record shows that they simply eventually fill up, too.
The solution is effective public transport to radically reduce the need for private vehicles.
How about, for example and for starters, electric shuttle minibuses in the City? (Yes, there’s the issue of lithium or nickel mining for now.) Offering the service for free can be a big persuasion.
It’s hard to believe that many years ago, a prominent businessman in the City and some colleagues of his actually proposed donating two such vehicles for that very purpose, but the idea didn’t meet with favor!
It’s being said that the incoming administration will listen to the people — wonderful news, and even better if useful action is taken on these and other issues.
The City government should note that people want to partner with the City in whichever ways they can, to work for our common goal of a better Dumaguete.
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Author’s email: h.cecilia7@gmail.com
