Applause for the mayor

By now, most of us have heard of Mayor MonicoPuentevella's State of Booming Bacolod and even without his stating the obvious, we can see the rapid development of our city.

Just ask any balikbayan and they will tell you how surprised they are to see new things sprouting all over Bacolod every time they come home for their annual visit.

Thus, I don't know which event Councilor Cesar Distrito attended for him to say there is nothing to gauge from the performance of the mayor since he did not go into specifics and was talking in general terms.

It was bad taste really to criticize someone when truth probably is, he was not listening to the mayor's report where, apart from the substantive developmental projects that pushed through, Newks rattled off just some of the numbers that the councilor said was never mentioned.

If Distrito was looking for detailed reporting of how many sacks of cements or sand and gravel were used to established school rooms and rehabilitation of city roads, then it will probably take the mayor more than a week to satisfy the councilor's demands.

I am sorry to say that Distrito's mind is probably clouded with disdain for the mayor that he'd rather look for the negative rather than relish a little and be proud of what our city has accomplished so far.

And mind you, Newks never adulated himself as the reason for all these developments, but was rather humble enough to say this was through the collective effort of everyone, including the council whom he thanked for supporting most of his plans.

What was admirable perhaps was Newks' admission and challenge to the people that our progress will be dependent largely on our cooperation with the city's programs. We all have a stake in how this city will prosper and it is up to us to cooperate and support the city's programs.

As the mayor said, there will always be critics who are just waiting on the sideline, wishing him to fail. Yes, they will always be there but no one can dispute what has been accomplished in so short a time.

MBCCI's Frank Carbon said it well and I've heard the same skepticism even from family members asking where is the market for all these huge businesses coming in? As Frank said, perhaps it is not as clear to us but apparently, these business groups are seeing more than what is visible to us for no one in his right mind would invest millions, if not billions into our city if they are not sure there will be return of investments. In other words, this investors-confidence in Bacolod is proof that we are on the right track, that the mayor has done something good for the city and for us.

Perhaps what is more laudable is when the mayor paid homage to many of our local businesses that established commerce and invested heavily in Bacolod before any of these huge malls and hypermarts came into being.

The Lopue Family, the Tanpincos, the Uys, Ciocons and Robinsons and Gaisano, the last two being the first to see Bacolod's potential and established the first malls here.

Yes, we ought to recognize the contribution of our kasimanwas to our local economy and in fact, despite the presence of the super malls, my family continue to patronize Lopue's East and San Sebastian for our everyday needs because they still offer the best prices in town but more often than not, it is because these department stores have been a part of our family for decades and has become part of our way of life.

To the mayor and his team, my congratulations and may our progress continue.*

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