ICI

THE DAVAO City government rushes aid to the victims of a monstrous fire that hit Piapi Boulevard in Barangay 21-C.
But who else will? The victims are residents of the city and the constituents of the local officials whom the latter were sworn to serve.

In relation to the same incident, several years back, when a massive fire leveled a huge portion of the Mini-Forest not far from the Sta. Ana Wharf, there was a proposal to develop the burnt area into a mixed-use community. Highlighted in that plan was the construction of multi-story buildings that were to be awarded to qualified fire victim residents in that area.
If we remember it right, there was already a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the city and the proponent property developer. But it was overtaken by the local elections and the administration that came in, although not nemesis of the then outgoing political group, decided to dump down the drain the proposed housing project.

So, those who were hoping to settle in multi-level housing structures ended up losing their dream of owning a more affordable, presentable, and safe abode.

Now comes the recent conflagration that burned some 170 houses and perhaps displacing may have displaced close to a thousand families in Piapi. And again, some well-known individuals in society and believed close to the powers-that-be, are again recommending to the local government to put up the same housing structures for the fire victims.

Will the concerned government – local or national, whichever is appropriate – eventually listen and decide to give the housing model a try?

Maybe it is worth considering that converting the razed area into a better sight for users of the soon-to-be-completed section of Davao City’s coastal road would be ideal.

Do the present Davao City leaders have the political will to be at odds with the numerous voters in the area who may not agree with such a plan?
“Let us to see.” Di ba Jun?

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Indeed, the way the various platforms on social media are “bastardized” by users to promote or destroy the interests of the person or organization they are working for or against is becoming very appalling.

The use of foul language and inappropriate pictures to highlight what the users would want the subject of their promotion or build-up, or target for destruction is unabated. Even in providing captions to pictures, it can clearly be seen as far from “civilized.”

We are just wondering, are our authorities, specifically our lawmakers, so busy with other things like legislating measures that can be their major source of easy money outside their monthly pay and allowances?

Yes, until now we have yet to hear of any one from our Congressmen and Senators introduce and pursue strongly bills that aim to regulate the use of social media. Why was it so easy for them some years back to work with mainstream media establishments to develop guidelines in the proper use of the media as vehicles for information dissemination and a venue for watching the governance of the country?

In fact, the mainstream media, in compliance with agreed regulations, even went to the extent of establishing self-governing bodies like the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) for the broadcast media practitioners. The print media, too, has its own through the National Press Club (NPC).

Meanwhile, the government and the policy makers, specifically Congress, have been intriguingly “silent” all these years regarding the behavior of social media users.

Is it because members of the Legislative body and the officials of the Executive Department, as well, have found attack dogs and image builders maximizing the use of social media platforms?

Look at how social media is being used to muddle the investigation into the clearly graft-laden flood control and other infrastructure projects?

Yes, partisan and overly exposed “paid” social media users are focusing their targets not on the process of the investigation but on the persons of those conducting the probe.

They are clearly destroying the probers’ credibility by disclosing their alleged involvement in corruption-laced projects.
We will not be surprised if one day soon, these highly partisan, and possibly “hired” social media users cum trolls will claim they have dug anomalies of members of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) now probing the graft-laden flood control and other infrastructure projects.