JULY 18 - JULY 24, 2021 4 OPINION


EDITORIAL Jackpot!


The proposed 174-hectare reclamation in Dumaguete is every mayor’s dream – can you imagine adding 174 hectares of land to your City’s small territory? The cost of development for this reclamation,


Even supposedly minor expenses, like the cost of publication of the Swiss Challenge in the national newspaper was courtesy of the developer. There will be no expense on the part of the City.


It was not even made to come up with a sovereign guarantee.


estimated at P23 billion is not the City’s but the developer’s expense.


n 1987, President Corazon Aquino testified in a libel trial that she was just telling the truth, and her credibility as national leader had been damaged by a newspaper column written by Louie Beltran that said she “hid under her bed” during a 1987 coup attempt.


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Most of all, the City stands to gain half of 51 percent of the reclaimed land. Businesses will open in this new “mini-BGC” development, as described by Mayor Felipe Remollo on national TV. People will have jobs, poverty will be eradicated,


and the City will have money to spend on health care, education, and social programs. As the Mayor remarked, this is hulog ng langit! We are one with our City in its vision for a prosperous Dumaguete. The deal is indeed mesmerizing. So tantalizing it is that it sounds too good to be true. And this is where we start to think whether it really is what it looks like. After all, as the adage goes, ‘If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is’. Many of our readers, especially those interested in making their money grow, will remember this one bank that opened here in Dumaguete not too long ago. They offered a 20 percent interest rate on deposits. In effect, your money would double in five years. The deal was made even sweeter by their marketing offers that gave interest payments in advance. For a deposit of P2 million, a businessman proudly showed a brand new car, which he said was given “free” by the bank. He had his cake, and ate it, too. Or so he thought.


It was not meant to be. Soon, news broke about the bank’s insolvency, and the major investors absconding with their depositors’ money. Thousands were left holding the empty bag.


Are there possible scenarios in this reclamation deal that will raise alarm bells in our minds? The developer will have to rely on its partners if


We will be sacrificing various marine resources for this project.


it has to undertake this project because its financial capacity is way below P23 billion. What happens if the developer fails to fulfill his side of the bargain? And there’s the cost of this on the environment.


that we stand to lose? Will the value of the coral reefs, seagrass beds, the marine life, the damage due to mining land to be poured in the reclamation site—all cost less than P23 billion? We sure hope so. But before we say yes to this project, it might be prudent to see what we stand to lose. This advice is not without basis. Jesus says in Luke 14:28-30: For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish – lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’. As explained by the Mayor, this reclamation


Have we even put a value to the natural resources


On cross examination, counsel for Defense, Dean Antonio Coronel, warned Complainant President Aquino: “Madam, truth has many faces: your truth, my truth, his truth, their truth, and the real truth which only God knows!” Today, expressing what one sees as truth can have consequences, telling the truth is sometimes dangerous. Especially when it threatens the status quo, long-standing understanding of how things are supposed to be.


uncovering lies, can lead to a loss of friends, status, access to decision-making or


Telling the truth, or ATTY. WHELMA SITON-YAP ECON 101 whelmayap@yahoo.com


credibility. Telling the truth in an environment of deceit, according to George Orwell, “a revolutionary act”. Or does anyone believe that


lying is justified when the good consequences outweighed the bad?


Failing to tell the truth is lying, the downside is that


lying -– any lying -– eats away at trust.


may contribute to corruption and violence. Recall the case of Maria Ressa: In her ruling, Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa argued that Rappler, “did not offer a scintilla of proof that they verified the imputations of various crimes in the disputed article... They simply published them as


Truth-telling


Lying, when it becomes consistent deceit, is evil at its core, and includes consistent scapegoating, excessive but subtle intolerance of criticism, concerned only with the creation of an alternative perception of a favorable public image.


This is more so when a person has something to hide. Failing to confront lies is symptomatic of powerlessness, and the feeling of powerlessness


news in their online publication in reckless disregard of whether they are false or not, quoting Nelson Mandela, saying, “To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Ressa warned that her conviction could augur the end of freedom of the press in the Philippines.


M alacanang Harry Roque asked the media to “respect the decision” and affirmed the commitment


Spokesperson for


of President Duterte to free speech. Most people in power feel


free from the guilt of lying, surrounding themselves with “yes” people, and collectively feel their increased ability to deceive others. Truth-telling or honesty is seen as a basic moral principle, rule, or value.


Withholding information, or otherwise deceiving the public, would mean disrespect to each person’s dignity. Philosopher John Stuart


Mill stated: “Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.” The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.


METROPOST


project will still be a long and tedious process. If we have to ensure that it will meet the approval of the very people it is supposed to benefit, we should already be starting discussions with the stakeholders. This is a process, after all. If they don’t get the idea the first time around, do it a second time, or a third, if necessary.


ATTY. JOSE RIODIL D. MONTEBON


THE EMPEROR’S NO CLOTHES


joseriodil@yahoo.com


Member, Philippine Press Institute


JOEL V. PAL Online News/North America Editor RICHLI D. AVES Cartoonist


2018 National Awardee: Best in Photojournalism 2017 National Awardee: Best in Photojournalism 2017 Best in Visayas: Best in Photojournalism, Best Editorial Page, Best Edited Community Newspaper 2016 Best in Visayas: Best in Photojournalism, Best in Environment Reporting, Best Editorial Page, Best Edited Community Newspaper


2007 National Awardee: Best Editorial Page


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The MetroPost is published by the UniTown Publishing House. All rights reserved. Subject to the conditions provided by law, no article or photograph published by the MetroPost shall be reprinted or reproduced in whole or in part without its prior written consent. The views expressed in the opinion pieces are those of the Columnists, and not necessarily of the Editors and the Publisher.


ALEX REY V. PAL Publisher & Editor-in-Chief IRMA FAITH B. PAL Managing Editor


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oday’s current preoccupation in social media and coffee talk circles is the 174-hectare reclamation project being put forth by the City leadership and administration. To say the least, it has become a very controversial and emotional issue. And anyone, or everyone, who has two cents worth to say about it has joined the bandwagon. And the current bandwagon is to bash the City leadership, condemn it for being inconsiderate of the welfare of Dumaguete (its people, presumably), heartless in its protection of the marine, coral, and environmental assets along the coastline, and depriving fisherfolk of their food and livelihood resources. In support of these compelling arguments, three Presidents of Silliman University, and well-renowned marine scientists have lent their names and reputation to an online petition opposing the reclamation project. And the opinions of these personalities are worthwhile


considering, and being respected.


Some, however, riding on this bandwagon, have given in to their personal, and have resorted to below-the-belt attacks, alluding to corrupt and immoral motives on the part of City leadership, calling them names, and even attempting to humiliate and embarrass them by posting pictures of the Council men


and women who voted to authorize the Mayor to sign the Joint Venture Agreement with the developer, E. M. Cuerpo. Others have


exploited the bandwagon for political gain, still others, for self-promotion, by advertising their unsolicited credentials. In the end, the nobility of the opposition’s cause can get lost in the cacophony of the bandwagon.


issue? It seems to me the City administration put forward a vision for Dumaguete.


So what really is the s imply


Parenthetically, this vision is consistent with the Master Plan on which this Administration ran on. That the City government’s PR and legal staff were not careful to fully disclose these most recent steps in pursuit of the vision renders the leadership accountable for an alleged lack of transparency. But a vision is simply a vision. We may choose to


An open mind


adhere to it, or oppose it. Nothing more, nothing less is required. At least, there is a vision by which this Administration is guided by. “Without a vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18). When there are those


opposed to the leadership’s articulated vision, they must present an alternative vision; otherwise, our City perishes. The first step the opponents


They have also exposed the lapses in legal and procedural requirements. Now they must take it a step further, and present an alternative vision. After all, the essence of urban planning is to address the needs and desires of its constituency. In an interesting take on the 174-hectare reclamation project, Victor Vicente G. Sinco, president of Foundation University, an architect and urban planner, opined that he is opposed to the project not because it’s a development project but because the project’s premise is wrong. For Dean Sinco, when you consider development for Dumaguete, you must address its problems and issues in a holistic manner. And the starting point here is Dumaguete’s population. Current statistics show that Dumaguete in 2020 had a resident population of 135,000, but a daytime population of 400,000. And yet, the present sustaining capacity of the City is barely 200,000. Consequently, the current, resources and services of our City are barely able to support its resident or night population.


of reclamation have taken is the right one. They have pointed out the weakness and inadequacy of the vision.


When this population expands by double, the problems of traffic, garbage and sanitation, sewage, water and power supply, health,


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