Procrastination
It is easy to be distracted by the latest Supreme Court issuance directing the Cebu City government to stop using the Inayawan dumpsite for good as just an environmental issue, that it is simply about not having the right environmental permits or the right environmental programs governing the dumpsite's use. But Inayawan is not only about the environment.
What the problem of Inayawan really is concerns the lack of foresight by the Cebu City government to plan ahead for things that are both necessary and inevitable. And it is not just the fault of the present city administration but that of a long succession of governments that has neglected to put in place what the future needs at their respective points of time.
Perhaps particular governments, especially the current one, can find a way to wiggle out of the present predicament. But in all likelihood it will just be a palliative, a stop-gap measure. And the thing is, no one can even blame it if it is the only thing possible at the moment. Because in truth and in fact, a short-term solution is the priority at the moment.
What long-term solution may be found cannot ever hope to be applied within a foreseeable time of, at the very least, five years. The geographical properties of Cebu Island make any viable option extremely limited. Which is why, given what is known about Cebu, it is truly incredible why no one in the last 50 years or so made any provisions for a problem that was sure to come, provisions that are viable for the next 50 years at least.
And that is where Cebu City now finds itself in, neck deep in a problem that needs an instant solution, when that very same problem was already known to come as early as half-a-century ago. Unfortunately, and as always the case with many Filipinos, nobody moves until the problem is already at the door, banging, and ready to kick its way in.
Procrastination is a truly terrible thing. It devours initiative and swallows whole challenge. It is the single biggest stumbling block to progress and development. Had the matter of garbage been provided for as early as 50 years ago, Cebu City would not have found itself in the dire situation it is now with no place to put its trash.
It would have found better use of its time and resources toward progress and development, in much the same way that it procrastinated with traffic management. And so, just as with garbage, Cebu City is also neck deep in traffic. And just as with garbage, the city government is struggling mightily to address a traffic crisis it should have foreseen 50 years ago as inevitably coming.
Just like garbage, the city government is now trying to grasp at straws, or anything it can cling to as far as the traffic is concerned. The traffic problem is not just a congestion problem as we are tempted to believe. Like garbage, traffic is also about a lack of foresight and planning. Of procrastination. What is happening to Cebu City is a good case study for future leaders. First thing they should do is not to emulate their elders.
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