A terrible experience highlights city's neglect

There is, in our city, a group of car enthusiasts called the Volkswagen Club of Cebu. We organized this club in 1998 and thanks to the efforts of succeeding officers, it is now duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Since our initial meeting in August of that year, we have never failed to meet every first Sunday of each month.

Most of our members own the very reliable Beetle. Some of these cars were made in the 60's while others were fabricated in the 70's. Up to the present, these are still very functional vehicles that can be relied upon even in negotiating rough roads. And, we so claim!

In most of our meetings, we do not forget to brag about our transportation units. While they are not expensive because in fact, they are fairly cheap, they perform better than more modern cars specially in negotiating rough roads. My, oh my, we are ready to put this braggadocio to a test. Above all, we continue to relish the thought that when Adolf Hitler commissioned Ferdinand Porsche to design a vehicle for the junior officers of his then rampaging Nazi army, the latter came up with the prototype of our Beetle. 

Last week, I boarded my 1973 Beetle, on a visit to my small garden in the mountain barangay of Paril. When we started, I mused that the car was perfect for the travel. A retired DILG officer was with me and I assured him that the Beetle was most dependable for that mountain trip. It just got its regular tune-up, oil change and new spark plugs as well as contact point and condenser. Well, I really had it readied for that visit with a set of tires in relatively good condition.

But, on a sloped stretch coming down the road from Barangay Mabini towards Barangay Paril, I was roundly humbled. I had to eat earlier proud words. I thought that I was on board the most reliable car for that mountain travel but, sad to say, my Beetle was no match for the terrible condition of the road. My passengers and I had to disembark. Two good reasons were convenient camouflage to my shame. One was to lighten the car enough to negotiate thru deep ruts and two, for us the disembarking passengers to guide the driver.

The road was in a very bad shape. Sharp stones, along rounded, boulders, protruded. To me, these were more unmistakable evidence of the callousness of city hall officials than their disregard for the welfare of mountain residents. There were visible signs of wayward canals, criss-crossing the road. They only proved that they were created by the rush of rampaging water during the rainy days.

When we got off from our vehicle, the truck carrying the Barangay Captain of Paril had to stop negotiating uphill. I had to thank him for giving us the right of way while we were supposed to yield. He could not invoke traffic rules because he saw that we were in precarious situation. The chief saw what we did. It must have hit his mind that going to his barangay was not unlike negotiating to the hinterlands of Cordillera Autonomous Region right after the typhoons last year.

Comparing the situation of CAR and Cebu City is not as pronounced if we are unaware that the place I am referring to is just about 20 kilometers from the central business district of downtown Cebu. In terms of geography, it is very much a part of our city that our leadership would like to boast of as second to none. Politically speaking, the voters there are the followers of His Honor Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña.

I do not understand why we can spend billions of pesos to reclaim lands and yet cannot spare few thousands of taxes to patch our macadam roads in the mountains. It is beyond my little learning to rationalize providing millions of pesos to an enterprise allegedly to promote Cebu City when we continue to deprive many of our small farmers sums portions of public funds to provide them with better roads that they can bring their products to our Carbon market in less hazardous ways.

Indeed, I hope that what the captain saw could open his eyes to that stark reality that the city officialdom has neglected some people in the mountains.

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