VICE President Sara Duterte was quick to correct claims by President Bongbong Marcos Jr. that the Bucana Bridge project that is set to open for vehicular traffic on Dec. 15, 2025 is a legacy of his administration.
Of course, the VP will hold on to her position that it was her father who did all the work for the realization of the more than P3 billion infrastructure. And she may be right on her assertion. But based on the timeline of activities leading to the conceptualization up to the implementation of the project it appears that Marcos, Jr. also has a basis in claiming that the Bucana project is one of the legacies of his administration.
So, we can expect that the issue of who gets the credit for the realization of the project will continue to dominate the social media pages, the mainstream media, and formal or informal political discourses.
And we are certain it will be one of the major issues expected to be a source of debates once the election season for 2028 sets in.
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So VP Sara is very well aware of the moves of some congressmen to re-initiate the impeachment efforts against her in time for the one-year ban in filing such a rap against impeachable officials.
According to a statement issued by the vice president, the renewed efforts for reviving her impeachment came as early as January of this year when signatures were sought from those who will sign the new impeachment and they will receive more budget allocations for projects in their districts.
If true, then the House leadership is merely repeating a process that was used in achieving the required number of signatures from members to initiate the failed impeachment bid of the VP in 2024.
Are the brains of this new impeachment move being cooked up in the House still bereft of better ideas in getting rid of the vice president?
Frankly, with what these House members are doing, we cannot help but expect that what they are undertaking against the VP will boomerang on them instead.
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How long will Davao City remain lucky?
Yes, lucky in the sense that our city’s location is not on the direct path of storms, massive floods, landslides, and other nature-driven calamities.
By the rate that development is changing the landscape of the city, we feel that it will not be long for our place to become vulnerable to the calamities we mentioned earlier. And we can only blame our policymakers for the potential predicament of our city..
They are the ones who approve the conversion of highlands’ hillsides and agricultural plains into high-end residential subdivisions and industrial enclaves, even posh memorial parks that normally cater to the rich and mighty of Davao City’s society.
One has only to pass by Magtuod-New Carmen-New Valencia road, or the hillsides of Cabantian road going to Acacia to see the aggression as result of the so-called development pursuit of the city. Gated residential villages are sprouting all over.
Commercial establishments are also dominating the roadsides. All these supposed developments are reducing the absorptive capacity of the soil for rainwater. The same is also aiding in soil erosion.
And the massive green that once gave a pleasing sight in those places? It’s all gone with little hope of revival.
In the once rural areas of Ula in Tugbok District and nearby barangays, fruit farms and coconut plantations as large as 30 to 50 hectares are leveled to the ground to give way to high-end, middle class, and low-end residential communities – courtesy of the nation’s top property developers.
What then will all these so-called developments make of Davao City in the very near future? What else but increase its vulnerability to floods, landslides, loss of natural bars of strong typhoons and possibly twisters.
By then, we will lose our God-given immunity from major natural disasters. Thanks or no thanks to our city’s policymakers.
