EDITORIAL - Simple

Reacting to complaints from the public regarding the apparent takeover by mendicants and vendors of walkway bridges, or the so-called skywalks, some city officials have proposed to tear down the roofs of these structures.

The logic of the proposal seems to be that if you tear down the roofs over the skywalks, it will expose the mendicants and vendors to the elements, making their continued occupation of the structure uncomfortable and unhealthy, and thus drive them away.

The complainants were aghast at the proposal. They could not understand why an otherwise simple problem needed such a complex and ridiculous proposed solution, one that not only will not solve the problem but will create more problems as well.

Exposing the mendicants and vendors to the elements by tearing down the roofs over the skywalks may drive them away, but only temporarily, as when the sun gets too hot, or when there is rain. But you can be sure they will be back when neither of the two conditions exist.

On the other hand, tearing down the roofs of the skywalks will deprive the general public of the shelter and protection for which the roofs were intended to provide in the first place. It is now the real beneficiaries of the service who get to suffer as a consequence.

Not only that, tearing down the skywalk roofs will inflict unnecessary damage to public property. Aside from the taxpayers being deprived of a public service, the taxes they paid to build the skywalks will also all go to waste.

The easiest solution would have been to simply drive the mendicants and vendors away from the skywalks. There are enough applicable laws for the city to use to do that. All it takes is the will to apply them, and the will to continue enforcing them.

But then, it is to the misfortune of Cebuanos that their city officials just do not have what it takes to hack it, like when they cannot get rid of candle vendors, they simply barricaded the church. No churchgoers, no candle buyers, no candle vendors. Simple.