Cases worth Davaoeños waiting
IF ANYONE would like to find a more “blessed” stretch of the road these days, he or she can find it from the C.P. Garcia Diversion Highway all the way to Catalunan Grande-Elenita Heights or the same road leading to the boundary of the same barangay with Tacunan passing by the Ateneo Housing site.
Anyone can see the showcase solar street lighting project of first District Congressman Paolo Duterte. The posts installed with solar lamps are standing on both sides of the well-paved 4-lane road roughly 20 meters apart.
With the “blessings” on the road naturally the residents and all those who usually pass the route are also blessed as well. And to think that only a few houses are constructed at some portions of the entire road stretch.
How soon will the roads in the other areas of the first district be able to enjoy the same kind of blessing? We hope Congressman Polong will not make the wait much longer.
************************ Frankly, we are starting to doubt that some concerned officials of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) of Davao City as well as those at City Hall are not regularly reading local newspapers. And we too, are suspicious that our columns are not read at all by the concerned officials possibly because the subjects we harp on every now and then are in some ways “offensive” against them.
But we cannot help it. These concerned officials are somewhat maintaining a “we don’t care” attitude on the subject we have been bringing out in this space for quite some time now. We are actually referring to the nondistribution of several heavy-duty plastic garbage bins to strategic locations in the barangays, a number of them in the third district, and in the rural areas.
The garbage bins which had been delivered most likely by the CENRO some three years ago are just piled up in certain areas within the barangay hall compounds and staying there idle while some households in the recipient villages are hard-up finding areas to dispose of their waste materials.
We have asked some barangay officials when the bins will be distributed and whose responsibility is the distribution. Many of those we asked gave us this quite non-assuring answer. That is, they are waiting for instructions from the CENRO. What, after roughly three years, they are still waiting on the instructions?
Meanwhile, some of the garbage bins are slowly deteriorating. No, it is not the physical constitution of the bins because these are made of heavy-duty plastic. Rather, it is the make of the entire bin. Some now have detached and/or deformed covers. Possibly it is because some are piled directly under the mercy of the elements of nature, say under the heat of the sun or being exposed to rain. We have in fact seen in certain recipient barangays that the growth of tall grass varieties overtakes the height of the bins piles.
When will these garbage bins be finally distributed and which agency in the local government will distribute or deliver the receptacles to where exactly these should be? It seems to be the hardest riddle for us to solve.
****************************** There are now two sensational criminal cases that are worth the Davaoenos’ watching as to their development. And unfortunately, both cases have in some ways, connected to agencies the personnel of which are the less likely to be involved.
We are referring to the killing of a teenager in the early part of last year by, of all persons, a Doctor of Medicine working in a non-uniformed service of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Region XI. Initially, he was charged with murder, but by a twist of fate, the charge was downgraded to homicide. Then we have another which occurred towards the end of 2022. This time the victim, a businesswoman and part-time model, was gunned down allegedly on orders of a top Army officer who served as commander of the 1001st Brigade.