Tuesday, October 16, 2007 Ledesma: Forget Malacanang, let's build that bridge! By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
LET'S come to the aid of our Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. Let's redeem his and our dignity and whatever pride is left in us for having gone down to our knees to beg from PGMA and her DPWH secretary the fund that is needed to rebuild the collapsed bridge in bankerohan.
Dabawenyos, rich and poor, are not lacking in "bayanihan" spirit. This is the time to show our support for our mayor and to prove to all and sundry that even as we are totally abandoned by the national leadership the Dabawenyo spirit in us never wanes and can overcome whatever slings of outrageous fortune befell us.
Translation: an insulting Malacanang snub and snobbery.
We have to build that bridge ourselves. I don't know how much would it cost. I have heard of several estimates whispered by government engineers--P120 million to P300 million. This wishy-washy estimate elicits suspicion of so many interested parties wanting to make money out of this proposed bridge. We are not building a Golden Gate project so I would surmise that the structural engineering plan for this one would be a lot simpler.
Can we get a design and structural engineer to come out with a plan? Gratis et amore? If the DPWH Manila engineers can do it why cannot our local boys?
We have to know how much for we have to raise the funds. The poor man's peso is as good as the rich man's million. We have to address this to our conscience. We have lived a good life of serenity and security courtesy of City Mayor Duterte. Some of you wanted to repay him some debt of gratitude. Some want to contribute a small piece to this grand monument of Dabawenyos' cohesiveness. Now is the time.
I am reminded at once of a rare experience I had in a remote village in Namhaegun, South Korea. Fresh from college I was lucky to be one of the two Pinoys who attended a forum on "Nationalism and International Understanding" in Japan which culminated in a work camp in that small village located in sparsely populated coastal area in an inland sea.
Korea in the late 1960's was not that the economic tiger that it is today. They have just recovered from the ravages of a civil war. North of the village where we (we were about 45 young foreign nationals) encamped is another sleepy village. These coastal villages looked very much like our remote sitios. "Mud" houses are mostly clustered near the slope of barren mountains. The mud houses, which do not go any higher than one storey, are so designed to protect the villagers from the excruciating heat of summer and harsh winter.
Running between the two villages is a rivulet where the farmers scoop water by the pails and sprinkle this on their rice fields. Even as they were neighbors, the inhabitants from the two villages do not communicate. And yet some of them are relatives. The river was never bridged. The gap persisted until we came.
We decided to make a bridge, about 50 meters long and about six meters wide, using rocks from the wide riverbed. We divided our group into two. One group on the northern bank and we at the south. On the first two days, we were the only ones piling rocks with our bare hands. Later we were joined in by young boys and girls from both sides.
As our work progressed the adults including the village officials joined us. Before the month ended the bridge was completed, the last stones were laid by the village heads from both sides who later embraced each other. The womenfolk cried. The celebration for the completion of the bridge and reconciliation to two estranged village folks lasted to the wee hours of the morning. We had a bonfire and we feasted on meat and fish and cultured seashells that were brought in by the village chiefs. One of them even made a pitch about Filipinos who have brave soldiers who fought during the Korean war. End of story.
I straggle into that melodrama from the past because it was about a bridge. Ours was crude and just made of stones but we proved to ourselves that united we can build a bridge that brings people across whatever the barriers are - the gap, the indifference and insensitivity.
We want to build a formidable bridge. One that could last for generations to generations. If Malacanang cannot give us one, then we have to build it ourselves. If we can, and I say we must, we should reject any funding from the national government on this one. It must be a bridge that is built from the fruits of our honest endeavors. It must be a bridge that is constructed out of every centavo that we contribute. It is one that is not tainted with corruption.
Dabawenyos have one public servant whose integrity is beyond reproach. To atone for our failure to honor him with a monument or to include his name and good deeds whenever we make reference to our history, I propose that we call this span Gov. Vicente Duterte Bridge so that each time we are asked by our children who this man is, we can be reminded and then respond and that: "Governor Duterte of undivided Davao province. We use to call him by his nickname for he is such a simple man. He is truly an honest public servant."
So how do we go about this? Let's have a fund custodian. Say, two pioneers in Davao who are now retired. These two made it good in all their enterprises with the sweat on their brows: Jesus "Chito" V. Ayala and Don Antonio Floirendo Jr. After all these two could be the first two philanthropists whose donations will prime the pump for others to follow. We will call the fund "Gov. Vicente Duterte Bridge Fund."
We need pillars to keep that bridge up. So we need about 20 more on the Board. Draw out your list and send them to me even as I draw out some of them, like: James Gaisano, Joe Tesado, Datu Ebrahim "Toto" Paglas, the Estate of the late Don Francisco Dizon, the estate of the late Guillermo Torres, Alberto M. Soriano, Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario, the estate of the late Henry "Tek Sing" Lim of NCCC, Romeo Sajulga, Antonio Teh, Lowella Gunez Amisola, Harry Lopez, Dominic Choi, George Go, Rev. Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the Marfori Estate, Dennis Uy and Engr. Remegio Salanatin to name a few. Be counted.
(For feedback, email me at: scledesmajr@yahoo.com)
