Sibling Rivalry: An Outsider's Naive Perspective on the Seeming Animosity between City Hall and the Provincial Capitol
I arrived in Cebu City on March 21, 2007. I came here because I was offered a job at a startup company. Except for some vacation time I had as a kid, I really haven't been to Cebu much. But now, after almost 3 years of staying here, I really feel that I can call it my city too. It has fed, clothed and sheltered me and I could very well say that I'm enjoying my stay here. I have every reason to thank this place for letting me live and enjoy what it can offer.
At lunchtime, my favorite place to eat lunch is at Chowking at JY Square. My usual routine involves ordering Chao Fan and a glass of pineapple juice, and grabbing copies of local newspapers. Now, in the three years I've been here, I've noticed nga whenever I place these newspapers on my table the moment I sit down to eat, most of the headlines on the front page always seem to involve some
dispute between City Hall and Capitol. It has gotten to the point that it actually annoys me now, that this seemingly developed and prosperous region is constantly besieged by political squabbling.
Most of you who are natives of Cebu will say "Wala dyud ka'y idea on what's happening because you didn't grow up in Cebu" or "You are only seeing the tip of the iceberg--there are other things you don't know about" and so on. While that may be true, I do believe that I have a point if I say that, if people are clamoring for progress and the "fixing/repairing" of some outstanding problems of the city and the province, then one simple reason that's currently roadblocking all of these improvements and progress, are all these squabbles and rivalries.
So just allow my simple, naive outsider self to express this thought:
Para kayong mga bata na binigyan ng kendi tapos nag-aaway kung sino ang binigyan ng mas maraming kendi.
Political maturity starts right in your own backyard. If the Filipino people are clamoring for change for the Philippines as a whole, and for their politicians to achieve political maturity, they should stop figuring out who has the most candy amongst them.
As an addendum, I realized that a LOT of topics here in iStorya's current events section also focus on this rivalry. Shakes head.
-RODION