My Davao City and what looms ahead

THE horrendous traffic experienced by both motorists and pedestrian in Davao City last week gave us a preview of what will happen in this southern capital in the next couple of years. For now, however, some measures can be enforced to mitigate the problem which actually arose from the various pre-Christmas festivities. Looked like everybody was caught by surprise. Most of the principal streets in the city center were closed without prior notice and there was bedlam all over. The traffic control management should have come up with traffic advisories before and during the event and the print and broadcast media would have been happy to accommodate them.

It does not help that there had been diggings and repairs of main and secondary avenues in the city some of these were either closed or temporarily one-way streets. I really cannot understand why constructions, repairs and laying down of whatever would take eternity. The standard of engineering efficiency has not changed. I often wonder why in countries like China, USA and Singapore, construction of infrastructures would only take a few months while repairs and rehabilitation takes only a few days. Maybe the city government under the leadership of Mayor Inday can elevate this old norm into a higher standard of performance and quality of work. There are concreting supplies available in the market that can cut curing time of cement from 60 days to 6 hours, and repairs from 30 days to 3 hours!

But we have to live with these hassles up to several months and maybe a couple of years. These are unavoidable demands and results of progress and development. Such is the price of progress and development. We have seen in the last five years the frenzy of constructions of condominiums and subdivision houses. Many of these are reaching for the skies. Davao City cannot suffocate from the price of its development and it is noteworthy that Mayor Inday Sara had brought the leadership of the region into one cohesive political structure for a more rational integrated planning and development. Industries have to be dispersed so as not to repeat the mistake of Metro Manila Development Authority which greedily concentrated industries and workplaces within and around the periphery of Metro Manila.

What happened last week was actually a freak but this gives us Davawenyos a scenario of the traffic grid similar to what is obtaining in Metro Manila. What makes the difference is that in Davao the political leaders maybe of different political colors but they cohere when it comes to regional planning. Take the case of Hugpong ng Pagbabago which Mayor Inday Sara spearheaded. An added advantage for Davao region are the constructions of big ticket projects which will enhance the connectivity of provinces, towns and cities. There is the bypass highway, the railway, the Davao del Norte-Davao City to Samal Island bridge and then the coastal road in Davao City.

The population in Davao City is exploding and we acknowledge the decision of the Davao City Water District in anticipating the increase of demand of water of the succeeding generation by tapping other alternative sources. The bulk water project will cost DCWD and its partner, Apo Agua Infrastructura, P12.5-billion. The project had commenced on the part of Apo Agua while, DCWD had already accomplished much of what they have targeted to do.

We admire the dynamism of the Davao CIty government leadership and institutions like DCWD. No wonder its economic growth remains to be the highest and most stable in the country. We bask in this unprecedented performance of a city once the laboratory of communist insurgency, syndicated crimes among them drug cartel, kidnapping and terrorism. Then Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte inherited these in his initial entry in politics.He plodded through with determination, imposed disciplinary measures, lived by example and in no time at all made Davao City the most livable city in the Philippines, most peaceful and child friendly, most competitive and through the years is on the top 10 most peaceful city in the world in the list of Numbeo, an institution that keeps the world’s largest and most comprehensive data of countries. 

All these pulsating realities and qualities of Davao leadership argue against all unkind charges and commentaries of the political oppositions and impressionable institutions and their paid hacks in the media. But despite them the credibility of and trust in Pres. Duterte remain to be the highest and sustained while in Davao City, the iron lady is looming to be the next national leader to reckon with.

Happy New Year!