Forced relocation is also needed in Cebu

Last Oct.7, we attended the forum “Understanding Choices Forum on Genuine Leadership and Good Governance: How Shall we Lead the Philippines in 2010” at the jam-packed Ramon Aboitiz Foundation’s (RAFI) Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center (EAD). As a postscript of that forum, tonight we are giving you a special presentation on Straight from the Sky and bring into your living rooms a discussion on how to carefully choose the next leader of this nation.

For tonight’s show, we have with us Ms. Evelyn Nacario-Castro, Executive Director of the Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center (EADSC) and Ms. Teresa A. Tejero, Executive Director of Dilaab Foundation, Inc. and is committed in promoting good governance and responsible citizenship, something that is gravely lacking in our country today, thanks to a voting population that doesn’t choose its leaders very well.

Evelyn Nacario-Castro presented to us the five characteristics for a good leader taken from the Leadership Code by Ulrich and Sweetner. These traits are: 1. Shaping the Future. A leader must know where he is going and how to bring us there. 2. Making things happen. The good leader does not only have a vision of a better tomorrow, he must have the capability to make his vision into a reality. 3. A good leader must engage in today’s talent. And bring a good team who will journey with him to make his dreams a reality. 4. A good leader must build the next generation. This is where many of our leaders fail because they only want to be surrounded by “yes” men or women and shun those who speak their minds. 5. Lastly, a leader must invest in himself. Meaning, he must learn from his experiences including his mistakes or failures. So now that we’ve whet your appetite, please watch this very educational show on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm tonight. Hopefully, it would help you choose the future leaders of tomorrow.

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Even before Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) has signed the Climate Change Act, she has already ordered the relocation of thousands of families living on the riverbanks, esteros and other high-risk areas in Metro Manila as they have been identified as one of the reasons why these rivers and esteros have been clogged, thus causing the flooding of Metro Manila when Tropical Storm “Ondoy” drenched it with record amounts of rain.

We can only wish her luck because those people really don’t care to move out of where they are living. They have been so used to living in squalid splendor by the creek; their relocation isn’t going to be an easy task. How I wish that Pres. Arroyo would include in her forced relocation orders our settlers along the shorelines of Cebu City and Talisay City for they too are exposed to unnecessary danger and when it happens, so much calamity funds are used up for temporarily housing them.

But the Arroyo administration must bite the proverbial bullet and show great political will so that their lives would no longer be at risk during heavy rainfall or storms and it just might be the solution to stop the flooding of Metro Manila. Anyway, in her next visit to Cebu, why don’t we ask the President to also include the people living along the seashore and the Guadalupe and Lahug creeks so we can finally have a permanent solution to what we have known to be a never-ending problem.

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Last Friday, my big bike group, Easy Riders crossed the Tañon Strait from Toledo City to San Carlos City then to Bacolod City for the MassKara Festival 2009. We were met by our brother motorcycle club, the Thunderbugs from Bacolod City who escorted us to Canlaon City and a sumptuous lechon lunch. It was the first time most of us in Easy Riders have been to Canlaon City as we learned that from there, it’s only 90 kilometers to Bacolod City, passing at the foot of the famous Canlaon Volcano.

Most of the roads from Canlaon to Bacolod were in good condition, however there were stretches of broken roads because huge cargo trucks overloaded with sugar take its toll on their roads. Call it lucky that we had great weather (to think it was raining in Bacolod for more than a week). I didn’t realize it, but I haven’t been back to Bacolod since I celebrated my birthday there four years ago. Now they have a huge SM Mall complex and we stayed at the Bacolod Pavillion Hotel just nearby.

We arrived in Bacolod just in time to see the Street Dancing category and the Electric MassKara where the entire Lacson St. was closed to traffic and the streets were jam-packed with revelers. Of course traffic was terrible, just like when Cebu celebrates Sinulog Week.

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