Island Garden City of Samal 2010

I spent the past few days going around the Island Garden City of Samal visiting friends and relatives and just marveling at the beauty of the island. I discovered a beautiful place on the slopes of the island called Tracer Heights owned by the family of Ms Shirley de la Cerna- Lazaga, my grade school teacher. Their garden view deck is overlooking the urban sprawl of Davao City. The contrast view of Davao City’s asphalt jungle and the pristine beauty from where I stood was not lost on me. I guess I am not unlike the rest of the Filipinos who spent Christmas in the parks instead of malls. My Samal City of 2010 and beyond is not only blue waters but also green mountains and real gardens befitting its name.

The whole island is surrounded by water but there are parts which do not have access to potable water. And the reason is not because of lack of technology nor lack of funds. One of the reasons is the recalcitrant barangays and obstinately uncooperative private local citizens running their old commercial water system and do not wish to avail of the city’s water district modern facilities. This is an example of small village politics which could be harnessed to serve the needs of local residents.

The buses that ply the roads from north to south of the island are good first steps as far as transportation is concerned. But, I hear the residents miss the launch and pump boat ride from many points in the island to the city center in Magsaysay Park. The story I hear is that the former launch operators were not able to meet the sea worthy vessel requirements of Marina, the agency that regulates marine transportation. With all the sea mishap happening all around us, this marine transport regulation is important. But, so are the various options in island transport which are equally important. This is a call for the public and private sector to revive the old sea route from the island’s political center ( Penaplata) to Davao City’s central business district (Magsaysay Park)

This is a cheaper route and faster because modern fast boats are already a well developed technology and is in use in many parts of the Philippines. Plus the idea of one getting off or being transported to the city center in a few minutes is very appealing. Since, the sea route does not require millions worth of infrastructure as in roads and bridges, this track should be facilitated by the local government unit.

My only daughter, Kaye, convinced me to see AVATAR ( a must see film of 2009 written and directed by James Cameron ) on the big screen and I actually saw the forests of Samal Island in the super lush vegetation of Pandora, the earthlike moon “location” of the movie. I compare the touristic “mining” of the natural beauty of the island as akin to the invasive mining of minerals by the earth people in the Avatar movie. The Samal island city must hurry its land banking so that a land use plan ordinance will be in place before the private property owners will put into place their own version of uses of land which could be heavily tilted to the pursuit of commercial uses of land that could very well undermine the preservation of the beauty of the island and the community’s access to public places like parks and fish ports and the like.

We all live in an island and so lets welcome 2010 with open arms and with prayers galore that our wishes for all islanders in 2010 will come true!