Thursday, July 24, 2008 Editorial: Where there's smoke
RECENT events point toward the lynch mob tendencies of our leaders whenever something bad is said about Davao City. It's not that we're less proud of our city, we are. As proud as any Dabawenyo is, and that means very, very proud.
But this pride should not blind us to the city's faults. We've given the outdated drainage system of the city the blind eye for so long, now the waters are lapping up our doorsteps, or for some less fortunate, just below their beds. We're still not minding that nothing has been done about our sewerage, and we're not minding too that no one is keeping watch over the design of septic tanks so that these help stave off leachates.
With 1.3-million people having settled in, a good number of whom may not have a three-chamber septic tank much less even have one such chamber, it will not be long before the problem takes on the size of the floods today. In the meantime, since this oversight is not bothering us, then we go on and gloat over the beauty of our city; woe to those who dare to criticize it.
Thus, woe to the International Finance Corporation for saying that it is difficult to start a business in Davao City. The news on the survey has been percolating for weeks now and the councilors have been frothing around their mouths, until last Tuesday's session, when a few well-aimed criticism by one of their kind ended the two-hour discussion on the IFC report and (as what one city official said) the "damage it has done."
And we ask what damage? Does speaking up to point out some flaws damaging?
Comments coming from groups such as IFC shouldn't be taken as a personal assault on the integrity of the people working in government, but should instead be a beacon on how we are faring in comparison world standards. Ganging up on a report (and the one who made the report) just because it doesn't say something good about our city to the extent of saying it has done "damage" to the city, while praising the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) instead for indulging our pride is so archaic.
Where there's smoke there's fire. Thus, when an international finance group says it's difficult to start business here, then that only means that somebody found it difficult to go through the process of getting all the documents needed. The logical reaction should have been to find what made it difficult and not find the person who encountered the difficulty and throttle him until he agrees with us that indeed, Davao is beautiful bar none.
