The Scars of the Golden City
Written by: Jose
Angelo Lorenzo S. Gomos
Cagayan de Oro, a city currently in the process for industrialization
and increasing urbanization; a city of more than half a million people; a city
of bloom, in blossom, and in boom; the city of golden friendship; the melting
pot of Northern Mindanao. Cagayan de Oro, as we all know it, is a highly
urbanized and progressive city. It obtains every quality an industrialized city
has. It comprises of proud and humble citizens who are in contentment in living
in our city’s area. It is a city that equips virtuous resiliency amidst every
disaster that come strikingly unexpected. It is a city filled with dreams and
desires the people from the nearby provinces eagerly hope to achieve. Cagayan
de Oro is a city of splendor, a city of big opportunities and high expectations.
Separated by a wide and winding river that contributes to the city’s essential
wonder, Cagayan de Oro is a prosperous and economically stabilized place with
an abundance of natural resources and bountiful gifts of nature. It is a city
of entertainment and a city of peace; a city where crowds of people would enjoy
their everyday lifestyle. Cagayan de Oro is a city of equality where there is
an endless harmony and understanding among all its citizens with different
social status. It is a city highly enriched with God’s grace and a city poured
with the immense and patriotic Filipino pride. It is a city of growing
prosperity, an evidence of the current progression and augmentation of a better
and bright Philippines. Above all, it is the golden city of Northern Mindanao.
In spite of its rich abundance and increasing industrialization, Cagayan
de Oro could not avoid its inevitable wounds which in turn eventually result into
its obvious scars. The city might be saturated with glory, but it is vulnerable
to its scars. The city’s scars are apparently its problems. Most commonly, the
city has suffered with its social problems that eventually destroyed the city’s
reputation and stained its magnificence with notoriety. Cagayan de Oro could
still be labeled as the golden city of Northern Mindanao, but the purity of its
radiance has long since been fading up until now. Caused by its unavoidable and
destructive social problems, the city could not rise towards its highest height
nor fathom under its deepest depths.
All cities have their own social problems. The main objective of this
composition is to cite three of the most eminent and dominant social problems
revolving within and around our city. As a Kagay-anon myself, I am vigilant
enough to notice the most dominating and superior social problems our city has
which contribute further to scratch our city’s unblemished glory and leave
scars on it. As a Filipino, I am obligated to be informed about what caused these
social problems to happen. As a student of Development Communication, I am
entitled and encouraged to contribute what I am most capable of within my
personal capacity in order to introduce changes to come up with a satisfying
and firm solution to solve these degrading problems. As an Atenean, I am
influenced to become a person for others and to do all things for the greater
glory of God.
There are countless of social problems our city is presently
experiencing. It promotes hardships and difficulties to all its citizens. Most
of them are caused by the citizen’s careless and insensitive character. Some of
them are evidences of the people’s indolence. These social problems should not
be tolerated at all yet they are still degrading and destroying our city up to
this date. In my personal view, the social problems which I considered most
eminent are the problems of pollution, the beggars in the city, and the unruly
and careless drivers. These three social problems cause great difficulty to the
city’s citizens and are main hindrances and barriers towards the city’s
complete and full industrialization.
Pollution
Whenever I go to school from my home and as I am riding a jeepney, I am
easily prompted to cover my nose and mouth with my handkerchief whenever the
jeepney starts to pass by on the Marcos Bridge. I routinely do this. Every time
I pass by the Marcos bridge, I could not help but notice the brewing smokes and
fumes emanating from the numerous vehicles and means of transportation passing
by the bridge. The air will be filled with thick smoke even when it is early in
daytime. Sometimes, the road wouldn’t be clear enough to be seen because of the
smokes and fumes covering it. The wind carries the smoke and it would entirely
affect everyone passing by the Marcos Bridge and most of the people living in
our city. The smokes and fumes do not only appear on the city’s bridge (as I go
to school everyday, I always notice thick smokes and fumes revolving around the
bridge from the vehicles and transportations that pass by it), their unpleasant
presence which ultimately produces an odor of stench is also found in most
areas of our city. The smokes and fumes are two of the main contributors to our
city’s pollution.
Aside from the smokes and fumes within our city, trashes are also seen
everywhere. They are found on roads, inside schools, inside the parks of our
city, inside our malls, outside the city hall, and on walkways. They are
littered everywhere and their unsanitary presence is found in all areas within
our city. People carelessly throw their garbage and trash anywhere without
disciplining themselves to throw them properly in garbage cans and trash
containers. Trashes are also littered outside the steps of our church. Even in
the holiest places of our city, they are scattered and disseminated. Trashes
are also found floating in our river. It is a very unpleasant and terrible
sight to see our river flooded with trashes. The people aimlessly throw their
trashes everywhere in the city which makes our city smell and look bad. This
just does not bring an unsanitary feel to our city; it degrades the people’s
social values by being untidy, indolent, and unclean.
Pollution is evident in our city today. Because of this, our city is
highly and overwhelmingly affected and we would have to pay the price. When we
pollute our city, we destroy our environment. When we destroy our environment,
we would become wholly defenseless, weak, and vulnerable to natural calamities,
deadly diseases, and unexpected environmental disasters. Pollution affects all
of us in every way – it can create harmful effects to our health, it can
immobilize us when natural calamities strike and it can lead to our city’s
environmental ruin. The evidence of the
pollution of our city also depicts and exploits how careless and negligent we
are in our concern for our city. Our city is our home. It is the place where we
live in. We thrive as common citizens in our city as we are familiar to the
place. In turn, we must cooperate to maintain our city’s cleanliness and
prevent it from its further damaging. We must stop our city’s pollution before
the infliction of its terrifying result to all our city’s citizens becomes
imminent and apparent.
As a student of Development Communication, I could contribute simple yet
meaningful and productive acts to lessen our city’s growing pollution. There
are multiple cleanliness drives with an agenda to help eradicate our city’s
pollution and there are environmental awareness programs available in our
school or in our community that could prevent our city’s pollution from its
multiplication and further production. As a Development Communicator, I am
capable of enhancing my skills and abilities in communication to communicate,
get in touch, and encourage people to join environment-related clubs and
organizations that would practice some fulfilling and fruitful activities for
our environment and for the environment of our city. I could also inform the
Department of Environment and National Resources about our city’s environmental
situation and ask for their assistance and guidance to start a cleaning program
in our city that would benefit its environment. If we all become cooperative
with each other to stop our city’s harmful pollution and engage into activities
that are advantageous to our environment, then our city’s growing pollution
could possibly cease.
If we all are vigilant and conscious enough to become aware of our
city’s environment, then the solution to our city’s problem could be made
possible. We must obtain the right and correct virtues that all people need. If
we all truly love our city, then we must give proper concern to its cleanliness
and not engage into negligent reluctance and nonchalance by throwing all our
trashes and wastes everywhere in our city. Our city serves as our home and we
are obligated to maintain its cleanliness. Are we contented to live in a dirty,
polluted, and chaotic city? If we do not like our city to be dirty, then we
must bond together in cooperation with each other to maintain its cleanliness.
Beggars
in the City
In Divisoria, the heart of the city of Cagayan de Oro, there are
countless of beggars begging for money. There was one friend of mine who was
begged for money by a child beggar and when the friend of mine gave the child
beggar food instead of money, the child beggar refused to accept it. Why do
they prefer money over food? Money cannot give them energy nor nourishment.
They might have some hidden agenda for their preference of money over food. My
point is that there are more than a hundred beggars in our city. Most of them
beg for money more than they beg for food. There are fragile and subtle beggars
– they are the ones who are blind, deaf, mute, crippled, elderly or limp; and
they are more worthy to be pitied than those who are evidently healthy and
active. The fragile and subtle beggars accept food more than they accept the
money, which is a good thing for them because their preference of food more
than money proves that they are really sickly and their sickness or illness is
a hindrance to seek food for their own selves.
Most beggars in the city are not really sickly. Most of them are healthy
and are active. They always ask for money and prefer to receive money over
food. Their common activity is a problem to them as well as it is a problem to
our city. It affects the tourism in our city and it decreases the number of
tourists staying in our city. The beggars beg from foreign visitors which would
change their perception and view in regards to our city; to them, it proves how
impoverished some of the people living in our city are. Other beggars, out of
sheer desperation for money, would engage into heinous crimes to obtain what
they want. Some beggars would steal and commit murder to some of the local
citizens living in our city. Even in churches, there are beggars who would
snatch other people’s belongings and they would steal them for their own. This
is one negative aspect our city experiences. It has a high crime rate due to
illegal acts done by desperate people below the poverty line.
There is the existence of the poverty cycle in our country. The poverty
cycle exemplifies how the beggars in our country live all throughout their
impoverished and unfair lives. The poverty cycle illustrates and indicates the
explanation of how and why poverty is eminent in our city and our country and
why numerous people are plunged deep below the poverty line. The cycle begins
with the child rearing. When the poor and impoverished parents fail to support
and rear their own child, there will be a less chance that the child attains a
primary education. When the child fails to attain a primary education, the
child can never proceed onwards with a decent higher education. When the child
cannot finish his higher education, and when the child grows up to become a
fully grown person, the child will not experience entering into employment.
When he does not enter into employment, he suffers with a financial loss
because he cannot receive his personal salaries without being properly and
appropriately employed. When he does not have salaries to support himself in
financial aspects, there is a big chance that he will fail to live a life of
sustenance, abundance, and contentment. When he does not have an ordinary life
to support himself, he will become like his parents who are already poor and
will stay impoverished for the rest of his life. And the cycle continues to
revolve.
The poverty cycle is mainly happening and ongoing in our country
nowadays. It is even happening in our city also. This explains why there are
plenty of beggars in town. When the poverty cycle does not stop in circling,
there will be more people who will be victimized by the cycle as the
generations move on. As a student of Development Communication, there is one
way to stop the uprising of this problem in our city – to break the poverty
cycle and finally put an end to it! I can participate in activities that would
help educate the less fortunate for a brighter tomorrow and for their hopeful
future. In my college course, there will be plenty of activities that will be
offered to us that would train and teach us on how to break the poverty cycle.
In every activity that will be given to us, I will give my full support for it
and contribute willingly to stop the poverty cycle from its vicious flow.
There was one teacher whom I had in high school when I was still in Kong
Hua School and during his class, he taught us several insights and lessons that
we could use later on in life. One lesson he taught us was that when we happen
to encounter beggars (whether they are sickly or healthy), the proper way to
help them when they beg for their need is to give them food whether they like
it or not. Food is way better than money because it nourishes them and gives
them satisfaction in their appetite and hunger. When we give them money, there
will be chances that they will just spend it on useless things or would even
engage into illegal crimes through the use of it. With money, they might buy
dangerous items or tools as weapons to create heinous crimes. Food is the best
gift to be given to them. Whenever one encounters a helpless beggar in dire
need, one must give him food instead of money when one is available to give a
food for the beggar. It will be helpful for the giver and for the beggar more
than one will ever know.
Unruly
and Careless Drivers
Traffic is always jamming here in our city. Everyday, we experience all
sorts of traffic: traffics caused by accidence, traffics caused by inappropriate
driving, traffics caused by negligence, and traffics caused by the drivers
disobeying the signs and signals posted on our streets and roads. The roots of
all these traffics are the unruliness and the carelessness of the nonchalant
and disobedient drivers within our city. We experience traffic jams because
there are accidence caused by drivers who could not even watch where they are
driving, disobeying the rules and regulations on the roads, and not following
the proper signs and signals. Because of traffic, people could not arrive early
or on time to their time schedule of where they are going. Traffic could also
result into more pollution in our city’s environment.
There are numerous drivers in our city who are undisciplined and
despicable. Subsequently, they could not follow even the simplest and easiest
of instructions. They are not even afraid or intimidated by the traffic
enforcers who are formally doing their job to maintain and sustain an organized
and systematic flow of vehicles on the road. As a citizen of this city, I will
practice in obedience and consciousness to obey the rules and regulations on
the roads and appropriately follow the signs and signals in the streets in
order to maintain a systematic and organized flow of vehicles by starting with
myself. As a student of Development Communication, I will communicate to others
to do the same. It is not an easy task and it requires a herculean effort, but
I know that it is possible to happen. By starting with myself, I can influence
and encourage others to follow ethical virtues even when driving. I can request
for the government to inform the traffic enforcers to take their job seriously
and become keen on noticing the unruly and careless drivers and give them the
rightful and legitimate punishment they are accountable for and of which they
worthily deserve. All this can help to provide a solution to the increasing
traffic problem in our city.
In conclusion, our city may experience all sorts of problems but it will
never lose its stability and its development. The social problems the city of
Cagayan de Oro is currently experiencing could contribute negative results to
our society, our community, and our country, but they can also help further the
development of our city and lead it to its ultimate industrialization if we all
must act properly and positively to find solutions to these problems and
willingly solve them. It is for us to realize what other social problems are
yet unsolved. It is also our duty and obligation to cooperate with each other
to solve these problems for the betterment of our city and maintain its stable
glory and infallible progression. The city of Cagayan de Oro forever remains
the golden city of Northern Mindanao despite all its scars.
