Walang bayad ang mangarap (you don’t have to pay for your dreams and aspirations) is a common saying. We fantasize about earning our first million pesos as early as possible, of living in a beautiful home, of marrying the man or woman of our dreams, and so forth.
In the same manner, I am inclined to think that the people of Eastern Visayas have long hoped that not one of them will be poor, that they can send their children to the best schools in the country, that all of them will always have nutritious food on the table and find it easy to find employment or be self-employed without a problem in having enough capital to do so.
Now let us shift our focus to the huge infrastructure projects costing billions of pesos in many parts of the First District of Leyte which are symbolic of fantasies of the past.
Oh, yes, we have so many of them. Each year huge projects are added. Existing projects are enhanced with the allocation of new budgets.
Let us talk about this at the level of development projects which are expected to vastly improve the quality of life and minimize inequality.
Whether you talk of turning the modest domestic airport in Tacloban City into a glamorous International Airport, or resurrecting an almost forgotten and sparsely-used port in Babatngon into the best transport hub in the Visayas, or building a road and causeway that connects the City proper to the airport across a bay that is also a finish sanctuary, or about the by-pass road and flood control project that cost several billion pesos, or having a second bridge across San Juanico Strait, all of these were fantasies decades ago..
Now these wishful fantasies have become eye-popping realities.
But there is still something important missing. What is to be done now, in my view, is for these projects to have a coherent underpinning, a relationship that will make them connected and supportive of each other.
Also, these infrastructure projects will require, as I explained here last issue, corresponding projects in agriculture through products that can be shipped out through the Babatngon port. The same strategy can be used in industry and tourism, to maximize their impact and lead to increased employment and higher levels of income.
These projects should not be mere attractions for our eyes to behold. These projects should be admired and supported by the people because they improve their quality of life, not just the quality of their surroundings.
Another example of these possible complementary projects is a small industrial center near the airport area. This can take advantage of the proximity of the cargo handling hub at the airport. Another one would be a small industrial center near the Babatngon port for industries that can manufacture products for shipment to other destinations in the Philippines and abroad. The latter can be linked to massive agricultural production and processing. These are just examples of many more linked projects that can be undertaken,
The fantasy of the past has largely become a reality. But that reality can become another fantasy if the improvement in the well-being of the people in this part of the country are not served thereby.
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