Late last week and early this week, the barangay in Tugbok District, where we have our rural residence, was hit by a double whammy. On Thursday last week until late Friday afternoon of the same week, we had a water interruption of almost two long days. And it came when we had just disposed of our stored water after its contamination became very apparent. What with having the liquid stored in containers for weeks already, because luckily, during that period until last Thursday’s water service outage, we did not have even a single service interruption.
Thus, when we were finished cleaning the storage bins, we started putting water to replenish what we had disposed of. But suddenly the water pressure was slowing down until it was totally gone. So what we were able to store was roughly about 40 liters, very little for a household as big as ours, since many of our family members, from children to grandchildren, have converged in our house because of the suspension of classes and work in some private offices. The “no work, no class” order was the offshoot of the series of earthquakes that hit the Davao Region provinces, including Davao City.
So Thursday and Friday last week were two nightmare days for us and the residents of our barangay’s immediate environs. But we were confident that when water service returned to normal, starting late afternoon of Friday and remaining stable until the weekend, we were confident our perdition of sorts had already ended.
But no. Tuesday night this week, starting at about 8:30, it was Davao Light’s turn to lead us into perdition. Electricity went off starting at about 8:30 p.m. on that Tuesday and came back only at about 6:30 in the morning on Wednesday, Oct. 22. As if the 8-hour power outage was not enough, another power interruption happened starting at 6:30 early evening of last Wednesday. We were already dreading another whole night of groping in the dark while waiting for us to become sleepy.
But somehow the prayers of residents in our barangay and neighboring villages were so loud that the Almighty may have answered the residents’ plea. Unlike the Tuesday night electrical service interruption, last Wednesday night’s power outage did not last long. Linemen gangs of the power distribution firm were quick to find the fault. Thus, the repair was immediately undertaken. And by 830 in the evening on Wednesday, power was back, and finally we were able to have our dinner cooked, and the food was feasted at roughly about 9 o’clock Wednesday night.
As far as our family is concerned, we have long understood that public utility companies like water, power, and even communications oftentimes have to face problems directly affecting the delivery of their service.
But what gets the goat out of us and, without doubt, of many other Davaoenos, is that for unscheduled outages, more so when it is for a long duration, it appears the utility firms’ last among their concerns to communicate to the consumers the reason or reasons of the outages.
But admittedly, with today’s prevalence of modern technology and the resulting sophistication, the utility companies’ priority is the announcement of scheduled outages and the reason or reasons for the need for it to be done.
In the case of the long power interruption the whole night of last Tuesday, had we not called the power distributor’s call center and asked about the ongoing outage that Wednesday evening, and on the side inquired why the long powerless Tuesday night, we would not have known that it was caused by a busted fuse.
On the Thursday-Friday of last week’s waterless days in our place, we were updated on the reason for the water service interruption at the very time that the water started dripping from our faucets late last Friday afternoon.
Frankly, we are not ready to believe that incidents like these are the price of modern technology and the resulting sophistication of its use.
But what is clear is that industries and businesses are spending fortunes to acquire modern technologies to supposedly attain ease in doing business is because the scheme further enhances the capitalists’ interest than that of the welfare of the consuming public.
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The series of relatively strong earthquakes that hit the provinces and cities in the Davao Region reminded us of certain issues that hampered and eventually stopped the construction of a Davao City-owned sports Superdome.
Yes, we are referring to the one now apparently inhabited by ghosts and goats. The sports dome was initiated during the time of former Mayor Benjamin de Guzman. It was built on a land owned by a prominent business family in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, that was donated for that very purpose.
The project was funded with a multi-million-peso loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines. However, its completion was overtaken by the local election where the then incumbent Mayor De Guzman was challenged and eventually lost to the comeback of then first district Congressman Rodrigo Duterte.
And that was when the stoppage of the project became imminent, as Mayor Duterte was already clear of his position not to pursue the project despite the huge expense already incurred. But even as politics overtly was the main suspected reason in the halting of the project, there were strong efforts to highlight the risk of collapse that the sports dome could be facing if it were to be pursued.
It was, time and again, emphasized that the location of the super dome is on top of a major earthquake fault that traverses several barangays in the city..
And lately, with the posting on Facebook the route of the fault that included our very own barangay in Tugbok district, we are indeed convinced that the risk of collapse should a strong quake happen is not really remote.
The question that is nagging us, though, is how come there are no strong efforts to warn the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) of the same risk on the construction of a flyover at the junctions of Maa-Magtuod Road and the C.P. Garcia Diversion Highway, which, according to claims by the agency, is roughly 80 percent completed.
The said junction is barely five hundred meters away from the botched Artica Sports dome project. Was the local Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology not consulted on the project, or was it totally unaware that there is an on-going flyover construction in the area? Pray, tell the people.
