Beautiful colors, efficient exterior design, a structure to be proud of, that is our Pagadian City Public Market. It is indeed one structure we could boast especially we are bragging about our being new regional center for Zamboanga Peninsula. There is also our Integrated Bus and Jeepney Terminal which is also something but now, is somewhat . . . .What seem to be edifices we all can be proud of seem to be a structure we could fall ill and be unproductive.

These must-see places are filthy. Dirty and smelly is the agora, the market has a comfort room that we can never seek comfort at all.

The city is like a home that how it looks like reveals our personality. I can’t accept the fact that because I am from this city, I am also unmindful of the dirt and foul smell surrounding me when I am in the agora. The comfort room in the IBT is disgusting and it is a shame, bitterly a shame, to people visiting our city.

The rates of our local taxes are high, rentals are so high because we do not have an ordinance about it, but please, though I am not complaining with the taxes, we should complain about the dirt and the smell.

We have enough pollution and noise with our tricycles, now adding to the insult would be too much. Calling all elected officials of the city, please make up our home. If it is okay for you to be smelly and rotten in filth similar to the agora and the IBT, spare us. We also have a right to a clean environment. We do not pay taxes just to get sick, do you?


JUNE 10-16
WELCOME TO INTERNET SHOPS/SCHOOL CHILDREN

School is here again and the problems of yesterday which poses still a threat to the students still persist. Not to mention the high cost of education, everyday expenses and food, it really is a gargantuan task to educate our children.

Another threat that our authorities have not taken a forceful move is the proliferation of video computer shops just outside various schools which we should agree is one cause why students don’t go to class, skip class, all the while parents are expecting their wards are indeed inside the school learning the ABCs.

There were actions made by the local authorities before but just like the moon, it doesn’t happen regularly.

The law which seeks the protection of these school children must be upheld. The local government of Pagadian must not just collect and issue permits to these businesses if these are violative of existing laws. The City Permits and Licenses Division must also make it a point to check where these video shops and computer internet cafes will be located. Local governance is not just income, it is also taking consideration the general welfare of the people whom the people in government is sworn to protect and serve.

The local PNP must also be consistent in their drive to implement the law, not just on days that they like implementing it. They should appreciate that these children are potential criminals if they would not be checked, they steal from their parents just to pay for their computer online games, they are exposed to criminals outside once they go home at night because some parents don’t care.

We cannot afford to lose the hopes of our future just because of mere laxity by people in the seat of government. Act now, before our young girls get hooked in international prostitution in the net.