From talkers to achievers

If we read carefully the pronouncements of most, if not all, of our elected leaders of the land, we can invariably come to the conclusion that firstly, these are politically motivated. And if we try to understand them, even more thoroughly, we will realize that these statements are secondly, focused mostly on the well being of the so-called less fortunate members of our society.

That first conclusion is, to use a term apparently belonging to and evolved by the younger generation, a “no brainer”. Our politicians take extra effort to be seen in public and it seems that they just have got to do it, so that by the proverbial drop of the hat, they find opportunities to express their views even on things their opinions hardly matter. It is a matter of fact that, even with the elections still being one year away, our elective leaders have become very visible.

The second conclusion also is not difficult to accept. This is, as it should be, correct considering that there are many constitutional provisions highlighting the need to uplift the living status of the under privileged. So, running true to this policy, our leaders after enamoring themselves to such demagogical statements like “those who have less in life, must more in law” devise one program after another that captivate the hearts of the poor. This tendency to be “pro-poor” is best exemplified by a socially oriented program of the present administration curtly referred to as “pantawid” where, in my understanding, hundreds of millions of pesos are poured from government coffers to support the livelihood needs of poor families and the educational requirements of their children.

Lost in the flux of these countless welfare programs, is an alarming discernible slackening of policies geared towards supporting the middle income and the lower middle income families. While every official is profuse with plans to alleviate the conditions of the impoverished class, there is a dearth of programs to push the middle income group up.

It is my theory that if we help find opportunities for the middle class, we have more economic multipliers.

Now, let us take a specific example. Here in Cebu City, we have a happy mixture of the very few super rich, a notable number of the middle class, and the less fortunate ones living practically elbow to elbow. That the residents of a great part of the city own small cuts of residential homes along its streets indicate the irrefutable presence of the middle class. For validation, let us cruise along Junquera starting from the F. Ramos Street. We will find home lots, standing in clusters, averaging about one hundred fifty to two hundred square meters. This average area can by no means be classified as high end if located in luxurious enclaves. But where they are, they are not cheap either. The owners of these properties are not poor.

But an owner of such property can never hope to put up a structure on it to make it commercially viable. The lot area is just too small to develop. He cannot expect to get a good return of his investment on any kind of a small building.

Here is where the government officials can widen their vision. Without abandoning the cause of the underprivileged, they can help jump start the middle class using their available resources.

The city, perhaps, can create a committee, a commission, whatever. The task is simply to find out where these small residential parcels of land are located and then talk to the owners to agree to a kind of real estate partnership. A stretch of say six such land owners can join their lots to produce an area of more than a thousand square meters. Lo and behold, this lot area is not small anymore. Then, this commission can entice those with large investment portfolio to explore its potentials. I think that a joint venture type of commercial development is viable for all parties concerned.

Yes, this idea of helping the middle class is at hand. Such effort multiplies economic activities. I concede that the talkers that most of our politicians are can be achievers, too. All it takes is for them to seize the season of showmanship and turn it to a chance to cast things in newer perspectives. Let us note who among them takes the lead.

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