First of all, hereí¢â‚¬â„¢s a test on how í¢â‚¬Å“rapidí¢â‚¬ Task Force SAGARR (Special Action Group Advocating for Rapid Reform) will act on this concern: The walking lane at the Rizal Blvd is covered with dirt and dust. Ití¢â‚¬â„¢s time to bring in the firetrucks and give the area a complete wash-over. Give it a little shine to make promenading and walking a pleasant pastime. Knowing him to be an action man, City Administrator William Ablong, ground commander of the Task Force, will surely attend to this concern with dispatch.
Still on the subject of walking, the Quarter Marathon Wellness Walk, with Mayor Chiquiting Sagarbarria, leading a thousand walkers, was successfully staged Sunday, March 6.
The event is a wellness project of the FU Institute of Youth Sports for Peace, undertaken with the corporate support of Robinsons-Dumaguete, the Dumaguete Business Park Inc, and Jollibee. We thank Naddie May Orillana of Robinsons, local businessman-sportsman cum philanthropist Julio Sy, Jr., and Jollibee-Robinsons manager Marlyn Vendiola for extending to us full support, since we launched the project last year.
Negros Oriental, and for that matter, the City of Dumaguete, having the dubious distinction of being the í¢â‚¬Å“Motorcycle of the Philippinesí¢â‚¬, could very well face the health-risk and environmental hazards that this fact poses. Riding motorcycles and minimal use of the legs for physical activity could be the precursor to lifestyle diseases such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, osteoporosis and a host of other maladies.
As I am writing this piece, a news flash on TV reports that the incidence of obesity among Filipinos is now at an alarming level of 33.45 percent. Thatí¢â‚¬â„¢s about one-third of the Philippine population of 97,976,603. It could even be higher among the motorcycling people of Negros Oriental. This is the reason I submit this proposal for the members of the City Council to consider.
Back in the early 1980s, I was secretary-general of the Marathon Association of the Philippines based in Manila. In our desire to promote running, we lobbied for and secured the issuance of an ordinance which prescribed the closing of traffic in the whole stretch of Roxas Blvdí¢â‚¬”from the CCP Complex up to the Manila Hotel. Under the Ordinance, no vehicle may enter the area on Sunday mornings from 5 to to 8 a.m. For three hours, hundreds of walkers and runners could be seen in that stretch of Roxas Blvd, taking advantage of the opportunity to indulge in joyful physical activity.
A similar ordinance could be issued by the Dumaguete City Council, prescribing that the stretch of the Rizal Blvd — from the Press Club upto Don Atilano — be closed to vehicular traffic for three hours on Sunday mornings from 5 to 8 a.m.
It should be noted that because of the current wellness and running boom world-wide, many visitors and tourists are fitness buffs who would find the area an ideal place to walk or run, or simply promenade and imbibe the fresh morning air of the sea.
Thus, early on Sunday mornings, the Rizal Blvd will be a haven for walkers, runners and fitness enthusiastsí¢â‚¬”transforming Dumaguete City into an interesting contrast where the motorcycle capital is also the walking capital of the Philippines.
Mayor Chiquiting Sagarbarria joins the Quarter Marathon Wellness walkers at dawn.