Why I will choose Archival

Of course, a lot of you will instantly point out that this is obvious. We belong to the same party. Which is one of the three main similarities between us. The second is the fact that we are both engineers and the third is the fact that we have the same concern for the environment. Any one of those is a reason enough to support a friend, especially in the choice for the future mayor of our city. But I am a planner, too, with specific concerns for the urban development of our city. And the environment plays a special role in it.

In most discussions regarding Cebu City’s future, or of any other city for that matter, the topic on the environment always seems to take a back seat. It’s a sort of a restraining arm that hinders many of the development initiatives, both in the national and local realms. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), required in most, if not all, major projects, is seen by many, as just a requirement --one of those items in the list that you tick off to get a permit. Very few people think that planning for the environment is a main integral part of urban and regional planning itself and cannot be divorced and differentiated from it.

But that is not just the main reason I choose and convince my friends to support Nestor. The primary reason is because I have known him long enough to see his genuine concern and hope for the betterment of Cebu City --the place where I live in and where many of you also live in, or may, work or spend part of your daily life in. In a previous article I wrote about, I pointed out the vital role that Cebu City stands in the entirety of the Metropolitan Cebu administrative and developmental area. Metro Cebu is not an administrative or legal entity, but whether we like it or not, it functions as a metropolis with Cebu City as its center in all developmental realms and processes.

The rapid and, allow me to say, “monumental”, development of Cebu City is brought about, by both its people and leaders, as well as the help, which is “symbiotic” in a sense, of its neighboring cities and municipalities. And at the rate we are “beautifully” developing, if you can pardon the adjective, the risk of environmental degradation is also darkly looming, and is a real challenge --a stark dark cloud over our collective future. Progress sadly often degrades nature, and we have countless examples all over the world where great cities go down into ecological decay due to over or uncontrolled development.

I know very well that the elections is a political process, and one’s vote is most often dictated by party affiliations, but I appeal to those who don’t have party preferences, as well as to the independent-minded ones. I believe all the candidates are qualified and worth voting for but allow me to underscore urban environmental concerns in these elections. We have a great Cebu City which we can keep environmentally great to live in. Nestor Archival can best manage it for us.