SO, THE City Treasurer’s Office of Davao is considering the request of some business sectors to amend the Liquor Ban Ordinance?
Well, that is a wise decision. The amendment could benefit both the city and those who are in nightlife businesses like bars and restaurants.
The city could earn more in terms of sales taxes, and the businessmen in terms of additional income that may be derived from liquor sales during the additional allowable hours.
Our take on the issue is that those tasked to amend the ordinance – the Davao City Council members – must see to it that the safety and security of the public must be a primordial consideration.
After all, it cannot be denied that the longer the time drinkers are allowed to indulge in their vice, the bigger the chances of their getting intoxicated; and the more they are drunk, the chances are their rationality is affected.
And it is worth reminding the general public that, historically, crimes have been committed by people whose sanity is altered by the effects of drunkenness.
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According to Vice President Sara Duterte, who was mayor of Davao City for two terms, a flood control project master plan in the city has already been in place. But she added that it has been “mothballed” because of a lack of funding from the national government.
When was the master plan approved and adopted? Was it during her term as mayor, that of her brother Baste, or during the first three years of Marcos Jr.’s administration?
We believe questions like these should be given answers so that Davaoenos can very well pinpoint whose responsibility the current status of flood prevention projects is attributed to.
Say, if the master plan was adopted during her administration as mayor and one of the projects is that which secures the banks of Davao River from somewhere upstream of the Maa Diversion bridge down to Bucana at Times Beach area, then it can be assumed that money was oozing from the national government as the President during that time was our very own former mayor Rody Duterte.
But if the master plan was adopted between July 2022 to the present, then the possibility is that it has been overtaken by the onset of the political enmity between the Vice President and her erstwhile running mate, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
And there is no doubt that delays or non-implementation of flood control projects in the city (if there is any) can be conveniently attributed to a lack of financial support from the national government.
But is it reason enough to mothball the flood control project master plan? Our take is that the master plan can be temporarily archived and be retrieved for use when the time comes that the Malacanang tenant is no longer the one having political differences with the former President and current vice president.
How much more if another Davaoeño will take over the reins of the national government, the most potential of whom is the VP?
Besides, mothballing the flood control projects master plan is definitely a waste of the city’s money. And there is no doubt that the crafting of that master plan definitely entailed a huge amount of money.
If the city is to come up with a new one, that will again cost another huge expense for the local government.
But if the supposed earlier adopted master plan is merely archived, it can be retrieved when the appropriate time comes. And if some amendments are to be made due to the rapid physical development of the city, then for certain, it may no longer cost the local government as much as designing a new one.
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Indeed, the City of Davao is blessed with so many financial resources. Already, there is assurance of gratuity pay for city government personnel hired under a Job Order and a Contractual basis. The amount of P153.23 million is allocated from the first Supplemental budget of 2025, amounting to P960.8 million to fund the gratuity requirement.
Davaoeños, too, have no reason to doubt that the huge supplemental budget would be used for purposes other than gratuities and enhancing the operations of the various offices of the city government.
After all, the next local election is still some three years away.
Or so the Davaoeños hope.
