Why sports and infrastructure are related
Two things got our attention last week – fears over earthquake-affected structures and criticisms over the venues for the Southeast Asian Games. Both have to do with public infrastructures, and how much attention we need to pay on ensuring the durability, usefulness, and safety of these things we all paid for.
In the recent Mindanao earthquakes, many quarters, including Senator Bong Go, spoke of the need to revisit our building codes (https:// news.mb.com.ph/2019/11/01/gosays-its-high-time-to-amendnational-building-code/).
The fact, however, remains that earthquakes we cannot predict, and there are no “earthquake proof” buildings. What we can do is ensure that their design can enable us to better survive such calamities in case they do happen. The senator’s call is timely.
For our public infrastructure we sincerely hope that government get the best engineers to design and build structures that will not only allow us to weather the earthquakes and typhoons that batter us regularly, but also with normal use and barring calamities, last beyond my lifetime, so that our children and those that come after them may enjoy their use.
That said, utterly useless are the comments of some of the pretentious uninformed who believe that government infrastructure ought to be cheap, or that proper design and materials are good for a one time event.
For with that comes the reality of crude and flimsy workmanship that will render the structures useless in a short period of time. These detractors are free to physically eat the rubble when it crumbles, and some of them, perhaps seek the opportunity to bid for and make money off repairs.
For infrastructure-starved Mindanao, the glaring need for these is clear. The desire for earthquake resilient structures is even more profound in light of recent events.
That said, the people’s money used for these projects ought to be properly allocated, wisely spent, safe and sturdy, and be useful for the next generations. Anything less is a waste.
Infrastructure is all the more important when we consider the need to develop sports, and the “other sports apart from basketball” which many believe we should start cultivating interest in among our youth. One of the factors that hamper the development of grassroots sports programs in these other activities is the lack of facilities.
In the last three years we have seen the construction and development of sports facilities in Clark and in the UP Mindanao campus in Davao that are world-class training and event facilities that allow the development of sports disciplines where medal hopes are higher.
These new facilities will not only benefit our athletes for years to come, but allow a larger audience to witness and support them.
With these, the development of these sports is not only concentrated in Manila, but will now allow us to look at other regions for budding talent we ought to nurture. Likewise, the future hope for the Visayas and Mindanao to host the Southeast Asian games is bright.
JUSTICE for the Maguindanao massacre
AS we remember the Maguindanao massacre that took place 10 years ago, the hope for justice burns bright with the possible judgment to be rendered soon.
What matters, however, is that we ought to be vigilant to ensure that political power and resources should never be used in such a manner ever again. The sleepless nights and remorse of those who perpetrated the massacre will continue as the souls of those they buried will continue to haunt them.