The Inner City
August 10th, 2007 | by Lance AC Acampado |The Cityhood of Borongan encourages us not only to improve the physical aspect of the locality, or respond to the social needs of the constituents, or bring about changes in the political mentality of the people. More than these, the Cityhood of Borongan invites us toward a renewal which coincides with this year’s fiesta theme: Renewing All Things in Christ.
First of all, change, reform, renewal, or revolution, whatever the term one is comfortable with as long as it means an improvement from a state, condition or situation into a better one, always presupposes that there was some troubled, problematic or decadent, or at least a stagnant or stagnating, condition that needs to be resolved. (There is really nothing that needs no improvement or upgrading in this world for as the saying goes, change is the only thing that is constant.)
Secondly, any change or renewal can only be effective if it begins with the Self - within the person himself or herself who initiates change or renewal. Without this other people will never support or join in the activity or program or project being used as the venue or instrument of such change or renewal.
Thirdly, there must be sustainance of the activity, project or program or else the envisioned change or renewal will never be avhieved or fulfilled.
Other things follow these three.
Everyone must contribute towards the attainment of our envisioned change or renewal in our society, particularly in the community of Borongan. Whatever our respective responsibilities, functions, roles in this community we must use as a vehicle for the fulfillment of our goal of a truly developed, progressive and prosperous City of Borongan. And each one must take seriously the challenge to contribute something for the sake of all, and for the generations to come. Every aspect of society and of life must be taken into consideration for development could not be piecemeal, it must be integral, wholistic, all-embracing.
Through this site we could contribute something through various suggestions, sharings of our experiences in the various places we are in or we have visited, posting questions and querries regarding perceived irregularities or problems in relation to projects, programs and activities without accusing anyone, and other ways of having inputs for responsible people to make positive action out of these in the physical world.
This is something like initiating an Inner City - both referring to the cyberstatus of this activity and to the idea of inspiring others to have integrity, that is, to share in this cyberspace any thing of value or benefit for the physical world because it is what he or she believes in and do in actuality - and somehow establish a parallel community of the City of Borongan in the Internet. It might sound very idealistic and so optimistic but time will come when our contributions through the Internet will surely be taken into serious consideration - if not by the present set of leaders but by the next generations of officials! (This could be an opportunity to start promoting if someone out there is eyeing any elective position next elections :))
Let us just remember that we are doing this in order to contribute something that will benefit the City of Borongan. This is not being done to put anyone in a bad light. This is just an encouragement to share for the sake of establishing the foundations of a City on the brink of balanced development.
Let us take part in creating The Inner City for a better Borongan!
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Lance AC Acampado A dedicated family man, a former cadet, an ex-seminarian, youth minister, public servant, blogger and regular contributor to the Eastern Samar Reporter.
7 Responses to “The Inner City”
By siday on Aug 11, 2007 | Reply
borongan fiesta is drawing to a close in every boronganon households. assual, there will be “ingrandeng handa” to every small and large tables in celebrating the fiesta fiasco this september.
tradition as it has become, the boronganon constantly prepares for its celebration though their pockets are empty…
looking back in the past, i find it wierd to know that the first fiesta in borongan was inaugurated in the american occupation. it was in the decade of 1920 when carolina daza and francisco obon sponsored the said fiesta as hermana and hermano mayor. fiesta is by nature a religious activity and i was thinking that the origin or first fiesta in borongan relatively initiated during the colonial spanish period. alas, i was wrong…
i have the determination to write an article about the history of borongan fiesta but i lack time and reference materials…
By Lance on Aug 11, 2007 | Reply
Dear siday, I guess you have misplaced your comment. I believe this comment should be in the post about Borongan Fiesta.
Anyway what you are talking about could be that the start of celebrating the fiesta in Borongan with hermanidad (hermanos and hermanas) or that some sort of a more colorful and more festive fiesta started only in 1920. But fiesta celebrations have been happening before that because this is actually one of the heritages that Spain has left as a mark on our culture and history. But it would be great if you could write something about the history of our fiesta celebration. We might even put it in our fiesta souvenir program in the years to come.
God bless.
By Haruan on Aug 11, 2007 | Reply
Borongan’s cityhood draws much expectations. Worse, our provincial capital would contain the perils of comparison as cityhood is more than a suffix thing but essentially of verifiable physical indicators of urbanity. It translates into value delivery mechanism of business facilities and hopefully that of government offices too!
When I went home last summer, I did not notice any dramatic facelifting expected of a city exept for a few utilities like internet joints, atm and PLDT calling office. I didn’t find a foreign resto but I was made to believe that the one we had lunch in is serving Thai food.
It is not a disparaging thought… I am only trying to get through the established definition of a city. Well, I rather look at it as an opportunity to start-up an entrepreneurial venture in time when others are still clinging into the conventions while demand for a zest in a city is escalating to inundation. At least it will put my theoretical foundations to test.
My metrics of urbanity is based on the presence of Jollibee and/or its golden arches non-Filipino rival, 711 convi store, a couple of coffee shops and a miniscule SM mall.
It is therefore a challenge to a few Estehanon millionaires to revert their investment back to their homeland. The locals need to anticipate the gradual surge of commercialism as they will also compete among themselves an access to commodities. Service and product providers would also need to anticipate the newly-empowered and educated consumers.
P.S.
I was surprised to see my favorite poison — San Miguel Strong Ice in Uptown mall! What a good sign… Hehehe!
By Lance on Aug 12, 2007 | Reply
It was somehow difficult to explain to the people of Borongan that cityhood does not mean an overnight change, that cityhood does not presume the presence of Jollibee or other convenient stores, that cityhood does not demand that a place have an airport or commercial seaport, etc etc. Many people thought that Borongan was not ready for cityhood because of the lack of amenities that present cities could offer. Though the Local Government Code (LGC) states that there must be some social preparation, the only legal requirements really were the income (which is only P 20 Million in accordance with the original requirements of the LGC before Senator Pimentel introduced the amendment of P 100 Million income requirement in 2003 which is after Borongan has already applied for cityhood) and the number of population or the territorial size - it is either of these two hence Borongan which has only about 65 Thousand people today some 85 thousand people short of the 100,000 population cap was able to qualify because it has around 496 square kilometers of land area whereas the minimum requirement is just 100 sq km.
Perhaps time will come when the other amenities and facilities of a progressive city or a developed city will be realized in Borogan. What we need today is unity, cooperation and participation from all sectors, public and private, political will of the officials, maturity of the citizens, investments in livelihood projects and business ventures that produce goods, and others.
Through this blog also we do wish to hear suggestions and concrete commitment in making the Cityhood of Borongan work out for the benefit not only of Boronganons but of all Estehanons and Pinoys!
God bless!
By Lance on Aug 12, 2007 | Reply
The figure 100,000 should be 150,000. My mistake
By siday on Aug 12, 2007 | Reply
i know what i know about the message you wanted to imply in your article, “the inner city.” and i generally agree on the ideas, concepts or points about your phrase of “inner city.”
correct me if i am wrong, this phrase connotes “within the person himself or herself who initiates change or renewal.” in other words, inner city is not the physical structure of the cityhood of borongan rather it is the people of borongan themselves that comprises the city. it is comforting to note that lance tried to encourage boronganon to actively advance their “political mentality.” you even defined the term “politics” as something a collective decision or participation of the members of the society especially the civil society. and i strongly i agree on you in this manner…
pardon if i did not focus on that respect when i gave my comment on your said article that created your perception and wrote: “i guess you have misplaced your comment…” i put more emphasis on the borongan fiesta for the reason that you mentioned its theme namely, “renewing all things in christ.” at certain rate, i was tempted to share the trivia that i knew about its history. i guess, all writers and commentators focus on a particular viewpoint and in my side, i pick up the fiesta issue. if you think i misplaced my comment, i respect your opinion…
as of the trivia, i won’t argue with you that “fiesta celebrations have been happening before (spanish period).” however, you will agree with me when the term “fiesta” differs in its specific activities and even meaning in comparing it with the years it took place. fiesta in the era of colonial spaniards is largely different with the fiesta of the american occupation. you even explained further that one of their dissimilarities is the “sort of a more colorful and more festive fiesta.”
thanks anyway for your additional trivia…
By Lance AC Acampado on Aug 13, 2007 | Reply
Thanks to you, siday, for making this a more interactive discussion. Perhaps the Spanish friars, missionaries only emphasized the religious aspect of the fiesta during their time. However even in Jose Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere” we could see traces of other activities during fiestas pervading even during the Spanish days (read that on Chapter on the fiesta of San Diego, starting at Chapter 27). With regards to the “misplacement” I am sorry to have look at it in a limited perspective. Sorry for that. However I thank you once again.
And I thank you very much for understanding that I am promoting an inner commitment also with regards to our aim for true development for Borongan. Actually one of the important things that I have been telling other Boronganons with regards to why we should support the conversion of the municipality into a City is the great possibility of having a BALANCED DEVELOPMENT for A BETTER BORONGAN when we become a City not only because of the IRA but the greater attention that a place gets from outsiders when it becomes a City. Moreover, with only about 130 cities compared to 4,000 plus municipalities, what LGU could have better chance of getting notice by investors and tourists? We only have to get out acts together and be truly committed from the heart.
Or else we shall never see the light of day even the sun rises early