Pinchhitter
Always at the losing end
Iloilo City aspires to be a premiere city by 2015. That is about seven years from now. To say it, there is no program or project that we may recall later in 2016 as defining moment or the spark that caused Iloilo City to become a premiere city. Metro Iloilo Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC) is not one of those initiatives similar to when Deng Hsiao Ping stood in 1979 before a patch of raw land in now Shenzen that launched China as a manufacturing powerhouse.
How could Iloilo City be like Marikina City of Bayani Fernando when a simple complaint on the condition of a particular in the city would merit a detached and simplistic reply that the road is a national road. Or traffic management is a charade and cover for employment of the ward leaders of whoever is at the helm in city hall.
The city is being managed in a plodding manner not with leaps and bounds that can transform backwardness into modernity in a time frame. Iloilo City is competing not only with Bacolod. Iloilo City's measure of success is its usual claims as the cleanest highly urbanized city Western Visayas, having scored a grand slam in Clean and Green contest. Think about it there are only two highly urbanized cities in Western Visayas. As said it is like comparing a kettle with a pot, or who is the best in sweeping her backyard.
Anyway, a businessman observed that progress is all over Iloilo. His observation is based on several housing and subdivision projects, outside of the city. His optimism may be in stark contrast to the fact that many of our brethren work and eat on a daily basis. While our planners and finance managers hailed and viewed the decoupling of Asian economies from the U.S. economy, as something that the Philippines would find handy in weathering the looming depression in the U.S.. However, it cannot be denied that reality speaks that the only option for Ilonggos and Filipinos for a better life is to become a nurse in the United States or to be paid in greenbacks.
Do we have in Iloilo that would attract investments other than malls and call centers? Let us not fool ourselves that because Iloilo has its own share of call centers, Iloilo is successful in wooing investments. Call centers are easily "transportable" jobs. It can be readily relocated. For an economy to grow, there is no substitute for a modern agriculture, a healthy manufacturing and a vibrant services sectors.
We can only look to heaven that peso appreciation would mean less interest payment for our dollar loans and more money for basic services and infrastructure. Consider this a one billion dollar loan would be paid P41.80 billion now instead of 55 billion a year ago. If a businessman has a dollar loan instead of paying P55 for every dollar, he would be paying P41. A reversal of what happened in 1997, when a dollar loan instead of being paid P27 was paid P41. Many complained then. Businesses were destroyed and many were in suicidal mood. Now the dollar went south from P55 to P41.00. Again, many complained and businesses are in tailspin. As if we Ilonggos and Filipinos are always at the crisis end of a situation. In yin and yang, for us it is always crisis and not opportunity. In all instances we are in the losing end. It is like heads I lose, tails you win.
Traffic wise: If Councilor Erwin Plagata and the city government are really mad about traffic, they should close the Iloilo Scholastic Academy. It is the cause of the traffic in Luna St., Lapaz, Iloilo City. Where can you find a school most of its students have service vehicles yet does not have any provision for parking spaces. Another eye sore and a mess in traffic is the illegal structure at the corner of Solis St. and Iznart St. Pedestrians have to walk in the street because of the illegal structure occupying the sidewalk. These two apparent causes of mess in traffic in Iloilo City are not relevant to the route structure of Metro Iloilo jeeps, which is the heart and soul traffic plan of the city.