Act Swiftly My Dear Mayor
I take a break from the usual serious topics of weeks past. I take an easy stuff of broken subject matters.
Let me talk of fiestas as the month of May is fiesta month in the Philippines. Fiestas for me is such a bore and an unnecessary expense. Imagine people going to my hometown Gingoog City and pay a fare of P150.00 for a Bachelor’s Express bus one way or a round trip of P300.00 just to attend the city fiesta. You could very well buy one kilo of lechon for P300.00 and let your children eat it to their heart’s delight while staying home. No risks of accidents in the bus travel, no hassles of children getting dizzy on the bus ride, no drunks pestering you for old times you could hardly remember when you reach your hometown, no relatives asking for money you don’t even have a budget for in the first place.
So the next time there are fiestas, I won’t go anymore and be pestered later on.
Just like the broken chicken I have written about last year. For those who have lost track, it is the place in Divisoria in Cagayan de Oro City where they sell chicken by broken parts like legs, breasts, necks, feet or some other parts. They break the whole chicken into parts and grill them and sell them, and my foreigner clients call the place The Broken Chicken. Issues in the city of Cagayan de Oro are broken into parts to be easier for the City Mayor Tinnex Jaraula to solve.
Let me talk about the broken issues like the port area or the pier as many knows it. Still the taxi drivers are making a killing, and in a very destructive way, of the visitors. These are tourists and first time visitors arriving in our port who have to shell out P250.00 for a trip to the city proper from the pier. This is a rip-off and this should be stopped.
I have written of these abuses in the past where taxi drivers are preying on hapless travelers but there seems to have been no action taken on it. It seems that someone, certainly not Mayor Tinnex, is on the take. Money is paid as a protection racket and only Mayor Jaraula or Kag. Ian Mark Nacaya would have the balls to stop it. Let’s wait how these good gentlemen will act on these complaints.
The same goes with the Cagayan de Oro airport. The taxi drivers are abusing the helplessness of the travelers and tourists by demanding fares way above what is fair. This is a very negative first impression we make in our city.
The airport is a major entry point and the first encounter a visitor to our city is with the taxi driver. And that’s when the first robbery in broad daylight occurs! A P250.00 fare demanded is another clear rip-off and the city government has done nothing about it. If our officials are not inutile, then they are just insensitive. We should demand more of them.
Another matter which we should all appreciate is the realization by Mayor Jaraula that filling holes in our streets with limestone is a self-destructive manner. When the rain comes, the limestone becomes white mud that are easily thrown out of the holes. When the sun shines, the limestone becomes white dust that covers the streets like powder. There is simply no use of it and Mayor Jaraula is bent on stopping such practice. That is a welcome move.
The presence of beggars in our streets and junctions are sure irritants. Why can’t the police stop them from begging? Why do beggars proliferate in our city while we see none in Cebu or Subic or Baguio or Davao? Why only in Cagayan de Oro? Ask Mayor Jaraula why.
And what of the watch-car boys and scratch-car men in Divisoria fronting Mercury Drug and McDonalds and DBP? They are not only sore sights and irritants but real dangers to motorists! Why can’t the police drive them away? Someone again is on the take? I again challenge my compadre Kag. Ian Mark Nacaya to take this matter as a personal challenge.
And what of the motorelas and trisikads driven by garbage scavengers roaming around the major city streets at will? Why can’t the city administrator and the police not prevent them from spoiling our city’s landscape? What has become of our discipline? What has become of our sense of tidiness and beautification?
With our city fiesta coming up on August, are we doing everything to make our city presentable and clean?
I maybe asking a lot of questions here but in the same breath I am making sore points stick up at a time that we still have time to act.
That is, before we become ashamed of our city. That is, before we make matters unmanageable and shameful.
I am ashamed now of our degeneration, of the desecration of our beloved city. I am ashamed of the ugliness of our city. At least, while we still could do something about these, let’s all join hands and make Cagayan de Oro a better place to live in.
Let us cleanse our city of these eyesores and live with healthy feelings and clean air. That is, if we could convince our city officials to act on these. And to act swiftly.
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