Dumaguete is bustling with activity these days as people from all over have come to celebrate the 122nd Founder’s Week of Silliman University.
The fact that the school year had barely opened, leaving students with very little time to prepare for the celebration, did little to dampen the mood of the celebrants, who all came to have a good time.
The heightened economic activity being felt by the service and hospitality industry, and the other sectors working down the line with it, only serves to prove the significance of education being a major engine of growth of Dumaguete City.
With four universities and seven colleges, Dumaguete’s reputation as a University Town is still well-entrenched.
That is why it is important for the City to strengthen the laws related to this sector, such as the regulations on apartments-for-rent, lodging houses, and residential houses being converted into bed & breakfast places.
There is a dearth of housing units in this University Town, and people with both the land and capital can easily take advantage of the plight of students or visitors from out-of-town.
Many lessors are raking in huge profits by putting up substandard dwellings, which barely pass the standards of the Building Code.
Educational institutions in other cities actually accredit/recommend some nearby apartments as fit for students.
Perhaps our colleges and universities here could also look into the possibility of accrediting apartments and lodging houses to avoid reports of sad tales from their students.
Another area to be carefully scrutinized are the eateries and carinderias, which are sprouting all over, attracting the mostly- student crowd with their cheap meals. Are these food items healthy and nutritious? Are they prepared by cooks and food attendants who have no communicable diseases? Are the food prepared under sanitary conditions?
A lot that can be done to improve the living conditions of the City’s major income-generating institution.
What we need now is someone in the City to champion this case.
