CSSDO

THIS TIME, the Police Regional Office (PRO) XI announced that its combined elements confiscated several cartons of smuggled cigarettes. And the confiscation was made in a series of operations in only a matter of one day. That is, from 6 in the morning of February 6 up to 5:59 in the morning of February 7. The total value of the catch was placed at P22,736,820.

Does it seem to solidify the position of the Davao Region (or specifically Davao City) as the smuggling capital of the Philippines?

For this accomplishment of the police, the Davaoeños owe them a heartfelt congratulations. Our take on the matter, however, is that such an accomplishment is somewhat hollow. Our reason is simple. We believe it is because the persistence of the smugglers to carry on their trade in Davao City is their seeming assurance that the place is still lucrative for their illegal business, despite apprehensions of their men and confiscation of their merchandise every so often.

And we also believe that the smugglers have a much bigger market in Davao City for their illegally bought cigarettes, despite the perceived strict implementation of the cigarette-smoking ban ordinance in the city in public places.

Or, are the smugglers assured of protection when the volume of their merchandise is much bigger than that announced to have been apprehended?

By the way, what happened to the confiscated cigarettes? Are these being burned, auctioned, or “gone with the wind” after a period where many seem to forget that there were confiscations made?

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Well, if there is one good project the city government is set to undertake, it is the restoration of the current Davao City Hall to its original neoclassical façade.

Yes, it is a welcome development that, if pursued, will further give more meaning to this year’s Araw ng Dabaw celebration scheduled for next month. Moreover, it is also the 100^th anniversary of the construction of the neo-classical-designed City Hall of Davao.

Honestly, we believe that the city’s seat of government has been left behind by other newer cities’ seats of governance. But while the newer cities are highlighting modern designs, it is still our take that the present Davao City Hall cannot be left behind.

Unfortunately for Davao City, the various extensions made on the original building altered the neoclassical design. And the apparent neglect of the past many administrations to enhance the building’s façade, such as keeping it clean to make it soothing to the eyes of those who come for a visit or do official transactions, further diminishes the viewer’s appreciation.

We are hoping that the planned restoration will be pursued to the fullest so that those who are not aware of what buildings or edifices from the neo-classical times look like will have their opportunity to see one in the Davao City Hall.

And we are eagerly anticipating having the restoration project done in time for the week when the Araw ng Dabaw activities will be at their peak.

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Last Saturday, the City Government of Davao, through the City’s Social Services and Development Office (CSSDO), released the P1,500 subsidy for qualified seniors in some barangays.

While it was supposed to be a happy day for many who were among the recipients, it became a day of frustration for some. And who will not be frustrated when, in the previous year, many who were among the beneficiaries but in last Saturday’s payout, their names were nowhere to be found in the payroll.

True indeed that each barangay was made to submit an updated list of recipient seniors because the previous list had to be cleansed from those who have already died or have transferred residence to other places.

The sad thing, though, is that the list, already purged of those who should not be included anymore, ended up with several missing names after it was encoded at the CSSDO for payroll purposes.

The non-inclusion of several beneficiaries’ names is clearly a mess created by those tasked to re-encode the names in the list submitted by the barangays.

This omission could have surely been detected had the immediate supervisor of the ones encoding done their job of reviewing the encoder’s output. But apparently, there was no review. Thus, the omission persists.

So the expectation of many senior citizens was “gone with the wind.” Now the excluded seniors will have to wait for an indefinite period before the possibility of their being given their due will be realized.

IN TAGUM, Davao del Norte, the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) has already started cutting down palms lining the sides of the highways.

The reason given is that the palms’ fronds that fall on the road have caused several vehicular accidents in the last few months.

Strange. After several years of ensuring the growth of the palms that have become the trademark of Tagum City’s beauty, the local government just forgot all those years of maintaining the palms and decided that it is time to do away with them.

Why don’t the local government of that northern city add to the responsibilities of city hall employees assigned in the Department of Public Services (DPS) or its equivalent if it has such unit?

Personnel from such Department shall be assigned to do maintenance of the palms including the regular trimmings of fronds that are getting to its maximum maturity.

“The decree prohibits street begging, exploitation of children for the purpose, and giving of alms. Violators of the law will be slapped with a P1,000 fine and four years of imprisonment.”

In the parlance of electric distribution companies, the responsibility of trimming tree branches that are likely to interfere in the flow of electricity to consumers is under the line maintenance unit. The trimming is, of course, undertaken through outsourced service providers.

But in the case of maintaining the palms of Tagum City, the local government, as we suggested earlier, can add the job as key result area (KRA) to employees assigned in the appropriate department at City Hall.

In that manner, the Tagum officials will not be parties to the degradation of the environment as well as diminishing the beauty that the city has been proud of over the last many years.

Does it not make any sense gentlemen and ladies of the local government of Tagum City?

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The Davao City Social Services and Development Office (CSSDO) is reported to have strongly coordinated with the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) Women and Children Protection Desk to reinvigorate its campaign against violators of the Anti-Mendicancy Law or Presidential Decree No. 1563.

The decree prohibits street begging, exploitation of children for the purpose, and giving of alms. Violators of the law will be slapped with a P1,000 fine and four years of imprisonment.

With the new campaign launched under the initiative of CSSDO chief Julie Dayaday, we feel it safe to assume that the violators in Davao City could have increased substantially. Thus the renewed campaign which apparently will be given more teeth.

Our take on the apparent resurgence is that people, not only of Davao City but all over the country, may not be aware that there is such law. After all, the decree mandating those prohibition was issued already half a century ago by the late President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr.

So it would not be surprising if those who were born during or even after the Martial Law era will have no idea, even an iota, on the existence of the law.

We believe though that the local authorities in Davao City will likely have better chances of enforcing the law if the local lawmaking body, the Sangguniang Panlungsod, will pass an enabling city ordinance.

We are now challenging our councilors to look into this apparent missed responsibility of legislating an enabling ordinance if the city wants to attain better results in its anti-mendicancy campaign.

The city government should also provide opportunity for those who are really genuine mendicants to have sustainable livelihood. And as to those who are exploiting the children or women for their illegal trade, the full force of the decree and the subsequent ordinance that supports its, will allow prosecution and once found guilty, they have to be imprisoned as provided in the law.

They should not be given simple slaps on their butts and allowed to move to another areas in the Philippines or even in the regions. The alms givers should face the penalty provided by the law to prove that the local government of Davao City is not into the business of peddling jokes.

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ROUGH CUTS | Long-overdue City Hall restoration

ROUGH CUTS | A law that has been taken for granted