My rejoinder to Taming the Sea

My rejoinder to Taming the Sea

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CALIFORNIA, USA — When Dumaguete MetroPost emailed me a screenshot of my piece on higher education (Dec. 22, 2019) as I can only access it on delay via online from here, a poem titled Taming the Sea published on top of my article grabbed my attention.

It’s a short but dumbfounding poem. My first reaction? “Taming the Sea? What!”

Perhaps, someone in his or her lucid moment was thinking of Taming of the Shrew (no pun intended). Who in his or her right mind would even think of taming the sea?

Instead, I suggest we use the word “mitigate” or “protect”. It’s more responsive, realistic, and limited in scope.

I’m sure some people are aware that reclamation and shoreline protection efforts are a commonplace urban planning strategy in many coastal zones in the world.

Some examples to consider: the Shore Protection Program of New Jersey, the Coastal Protection & Breakwater Barrier of New York City, Monaco’s Urban Foreshore Expansion, the French Riviera’s Beach Management & Shoreline Development, Singapore’s Tua Port Reclamation, Dubai’s Palm Jumeira, the Metro Manila Reclamation Project, the Bacolod City Reclamation Project, to name a few.

Apparently, the poem also made some sort of wild, if not distressed emotional outbursts against self-invented Medieval-like peerage and servile, and arse-kissing characters in Dumaguete.

“Minions of the Lords at the City Hall without a soul?” Give me a break.

It’s an uncalled insult to struggling, humble, and hardworking workers of the City.

I hope some poets spare our defenseless and inarticulate workers from the diatribe of their Nobel prize-winning poetry.

“Lords at the City Hall without a soul?” Seriously? And now someone is into judging people’s souls? When did this someone turn into a reverend or a theologian?

I suggest we use the words elected Mayor of the City, elected Council members, elected barangay captains, or designated department heads who care for the general welfare of the City.

Then there’s the “planning consultants cocksure with PhDs from foreign universities disregarding verified alarms for small island nations.…”

The poet’s eloquent prognostication? Do nothing!

We’re doomed. Eventually, Dumaguete will be consumed by the sea. There’s nothing you can do even to protect or repair the City’s reclaimed boulevard because the reclaimed will be reclaimed by the sea. This is terrifying!

Mawala na ang ako Tempurahan. I hope this won’t happen to our lovely City this year or next?

Otherwise, kanta-kanta na lang ko “Under the Sea”, a favorite song of my daughters from the film The Little Mermaid when they were kids.

Well, I must confess that I am one of those with a Ph.D., but who happens to do pro bono or puro abono consultancy work for the City that I care about.

If one calls me a “cocksure” or even “without a soul”, that’s fine by me. I must say, that’s freedom of expression or even the freedom to b…h or b……t.

As Seth King wrote in The Spectator, “Free speech is a bitch.”

In the meantime (like many cities in the world who have done reclamation and shoreline protection), there’s work to be done to manage the urban growth and expansion of the City, as well as the reclamation and protection of its shoreline.

Efren Noblefranca Padilla
[email protected]

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