Economy vs Environment

There have been so many changes in my hometown in just less than two months that I’ve been away.

I was supposed to go to Davao to visit friends and take exams at Ateneo. But due to the recent bombings and threats, I decided to postpone the trip. I spent Friday night at home and went back here in Marbel today.

But before going back, I had a breakfast date with Lyda. I asked papa to take me to her place in Casa Luisa Village; and on our way there, we saw tents and some construction activities in the lot in front of SocSarGen Hospital which used to be vacant. Robinson’s Mall is being constructed there. I thought it was just chismis. Apparently, it’s true.

A hundred meters from that site, houses were also being built in what will be Agan Homes Subdivision. There were already a dozen houses which are done. I heard about the said subdivision last April because my bestfriend Kris said then that he’d like to buy a unit. And at that time, Lyda told us that all the units have already been sold. So the houses were already sold out even before the very first house was built. Lyda also told Kris that he most likely could not afford a unit because the lowest monthly payment is around P7,000. Come on!! That’s the biggest monthly payment for any subdivision unit in GenSan. We live in the subdivision, too, and I believe that our monthly payment is only P2,000plus. But then, we’ve been living there for almost 15 years now.

That area is residential although there are many vacant lots and in not so far away are rice fields. With the construction of Robinson’s, it is inevitable that other commercial establishments will also follow. Businessmen will offer to buy lands from homeowners in the area who most likely will sell their lands because of the tempting high prices. They are not exactly rich people and a P1M offer for a 100 sq. meter land will probably pay off their debts. But that is not really alarming. With the activities and noise in the mall and other establishments even at late nights and early mornings, residents of the area are probably better off somewhere else. But I suggest that they don’t take the first offer. Wait some more, invest in time, be patient and let businessmen continually increase their offers.

Have you heard of rice fields a few hundred meters away from a big mall? That will be the scenario in Lagao and Casa Luisa soon. Right now, tenants are not too worried yet. But when businessmen and investors will start offering big bucks to land owners and others start selling lands, the rest will probably follow. What good is their farm in the middle of commercial establishments? With pollution and toxic wastes produced by such establishments, directly or indirectly, the lands will not anymore be conducive for farming.

Am I in favor of these changes? I really have no strong opinion of the matter but I can point out pros and cons. With the industrial development, there will be an increase in job opportunities. There will also be greater competition, leading to better quality of products and services which are offered at lower prices. Consumers will have more choices; and city and party people will have more venues to have fun. But in exchange for all these, there will be more pollutants, noise and probably crimes, too. What used to be agricultural lands will become industrial. Farmers who rent/lease the lands will lose jobs and they could not be expected to work for commercial firms because they are not qualified.

Economy versus environment has been a topic of many debates since Industrial Revolution. I hope it is possible that we all come out winners out of these changes.