ALL IT TAKES IS POLITICAL WILL

I always take pride in saying that it is only in Davao where you can literally say that the environment is smoke free and the new year celebration is noise-free.

Two of the most successfully implemented local laws in the city of Davao are the banning of firecrackers and pyrotechnics and the banning of smoking in public places.

Passed in 2002, the Comprehensive Anti-Smoking Ordinance was an improvisation of a previous ordinance of the city which banned smoking in passenger vehicles plying the city route.

In this five-year old ordinance, the city government specifically identifies where the smoking is banned. These places include passenger vehicles in the city; accommodation and entertainment establishments like restaurants, bars, movie houses, hotels and places where people meet; government offices; parks and other places “controlled exclusively for public purposes by government agencies.”

The ordinance also specifically orders business establishments to set up their smoking zones which must be air-conditioned, at most about ¼ of the total accommodation area of the establishment, must have an exhaust fan, and must be separate from where smoking is prohibited.

Fines and Punishments

Under the ordinance, violators face the fine of between P500 to P2,000 or an imprisonment of between one to six months or both, depending on the discretion of the court.

Those establishments found violating the ordinance face the danger of being closed down.

This particular ordinance was passed even before the national government could implement its version, the Tobacco Regulations Act of 2003, better known as Republic Act 9211.

Despite the strong support of the citizenry, there were also many establishments and vendors who raised howl over the implementation of the ordinance citing the negative impact it will have on their businesses. Even the tourism groups were not supportive of the ordinance at first reasoning that this would discourage tourists from visiting the city.

The city government did not waver and after a time , the Dabawenyos appreciated the benefits of such ordinance and learned to live with it.

Several local government units in the country and in foreign countries have emulated the city by passing their own anti-smoking ordinances. In several discussion groups, the city earned praises from the other local government units who saw that its implementation was really intended to protect the welfare of the residents.

A QUIET NEW YEAR

Also passed in 2002, the Ordinance No. 060-02 is an ordinance that prohibits “the manufacture, sale, distribution, possession or use of firecrackers or pyrotechnic devices and such other similar devices and the exploding of firecrackers and other similar explosives within the territorial jurisdiction of Davao City.”

The ordinance came about after Mayor Rodrigo Duterte realized that firecracker explosion during holidays, particularly during the Yuletide season, caused not only injuries on reckless residents but also on hapless individuals and that the fire crackers can even cause fire in so some instances.

This prompted the mayor to ask the city council to eventually pass the ordinance complete with the penalty clause.

Under the provision, someone who commits the offense for the first time faces a P1,000 fine or an imprisonment of between 20 days to a month or both depending on the discretion of the court.

Second time offenders face a stiffer penalty of P3,000 fine or imprisonment of between one month to three months, or both. Recidivists, however, face a larger fine of P5,000 or imprisonment of between three to six months.

Since the passage of the ordinance, hospitals in the city have been free of injuries caused by firecracker explosion and that the Bureau of Fire Protection reported no fire due to pyrotechnics.

Last Yuletide season, however, about 100 city residents, most of them young boys, were arrested for firecracker blasts. The number was higher compared with the previous years since the start of the implementation of the ordinance in 2002.

The increase in number of arrested residents came about after Mayor Duterte dangled a P1,000 bounty for those who could identify anyone exploding firecrackers in their neighborhoods.

Last year, some local government units have expressed their desire to regulate firecracker explosions, some of them have even proposed of emulating the city by passing a similar law despite the opposition of some individuals who peddle these destructive explosives.

The city’s successes in these two and other ordinances have made it one of the most recognized local government units not just in the country but in the world.

All it really takes is strong and consistent political will and a constituency that respects the law.

(Joji Ilagan Bian is a strong and respected advocate for the development of the island. She is Chair of Joji Ilagan Foundation , Phil. Call Centers Alliance, Mindanaeso Tech Voc Schools Association; Mindanao Rep, Export Development Council. Email comments jojibian2@yahoo.com)

SULU’S RESPONSE TO GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS

From well-oiled automatic rifles and smoke grenades, the Tausogs in Luuk, Sulu are now arming themselves for a different kind of war – a battle for full stomach and patience – to win over the scourge of poverty where it breeds terrorism.

Security officials in the country has been alarmed by the reality of food shortage that triggered riots erupting worldwide and is now gauging the security implications of the crucial rice and food situation in the country.

The Tausogs in this island of more than half a million Muslims are armed not with weapons, but farm implements battling to save themselves from the looming food crisis the country is facing.

Luuk, which literally means, ”low elevation”, was established in 1918 when Maas Kamlon, a very famous Tausog warrior fought against the government. The province is among the poorest provinces in the country and registered with the lowest human development index. It lagged behind in terms of economic development and the people here lived in a lonely island of poverty but ironically in the midst of a vast ocean of natural resources.

Agricultural Revolution

The Tausugs are now in the midst of what they call an agricultural revolution and are planting hundred of hectares of farms with cassava, corn and vegetable.

People here are now conscious enough and know very well the consequences, that if eventually supplies of imported of rice will decrease and will come in trickles, they can always eat cassava as an alternative.

Because they consider cassava as their staple instead of rice, the farmers are able to slowly cushion the impact of the soaring rice prices.

The local government led by Mayor Abdurahman Arbison, together with his Father and the entire government, rallied the people to engage in livelihood projects by tilling their lands and planting them with cassava and other crops, Arbison said that in the advent of a global rice shortage, people in Sulu need not to worry anymore, as they can always go back to their staple which is cassava and since they have an abundance of it ; they can even export it if needed.

Aside from planting essentials, fisher folks at its coastal area here are also concentrating on lobsters (tiger) and groupers (lapu-lapu) culture at sea.

The only fishpond in Sulu is found in this coastal town; and employs people from Iloilo in the Visayas (Ilongos). They manned the fishpond and at the same time teach bangus culture to the locals.

Ilongo’s are known in the Visayas to be industrious and are experts in cultivating fresh water seafoods to include tilapia and sugpo(prawns), however, the Tausogs are not used to eat fresh water fish but is now learning and beginning to like it.

Developments in Sulu

Access roads to near by municipalities connecting to the center town are now under construction and are to be operational before the end of this year. Roads to this areas before it was concreted, were not accessible due to big holes, mud -like soil and boulders of rocks.

Leisure Park, a few hundred meters away from the Tanduh Batu Port which is also adjacent to more than a kilometer from the Boulevard by the Sea is nearing completion.

When operational the park’s centerpiece is a Water Fountain complete with colored light bulbs that will illuminate the rolling and sprouting water above 12 feet from the ground.

The lighted Boulevard by the Sea has a walkway in the side of the riff-raff shoulders to accommodate early morning joggers and sunset lovers who are expected to troop the area.

Opposite the boulevard will rise a Sports Complex complete with Basketball and Tennis Courts with many indoor games.

More commercial stalls around the area will be built in uniform models to accommodate goods and products to be sold at bottom low prices that will showcase native and indigenous products.

Sulu had hosted the visit of two heads of states, two (2) Philippine Presidents, Pres. Gloria Arroyo and Former Pres. Joseph Estrada ; and the son of the Great Libyan-Arab Jamahiriya Col. Muammar Khadafi.

Personally, Sulu is one of the areas in Mindanao that continues to attract me . I know so many business people that would really want to go and explore Sulu and see for themselves the economic progress that is now happening. Do it. Now is the time.

(My thanks to fellow MIndanaoan Mr. Ed General of MindaNews for the information in this column)

(Joji Ilagan Bian is a strong and respected advocate for the development of the island. She is Chair of Joji Ilagan Foundation , Phil. Call Centers Alliance, Mindanao Tech Voc Schools Association; Mindanao Rep, Export Development Council. Email comments jojibian2@yahoo.com)