Thinking long-term

SURELY the election in May is now in every politician’s mind.

For incumbent officials, it would now be difficult to make a black-and-white distinction whether what they are doing are sincerely part of their sworn public service duty or a part of the campaign strategy for either re-election into the same position or another, sometimes lower, office.

One gauge that the public can use to distinguish between an earnest job and a political gimmickry is to look at the long-term impact of projects and other undertakings by our local government officials.

Distribution of free food and other goods, tarpaulin greetings, a waiting shed here and there, a substandard short piece of paved road?  Definitely there is nothing deeply enduring and life-changing in these acts and projects.

The pressing need of Pangasinan at this point, which is also critical in the province’s future development, is the unfinished work of rebuilding from the disaster caused by the flooding during Typhoon “Pepeng” in October last year.

The reconstruction does not simply mean pouring in the concrete to bring the infrastructure back. We must remember that the calamity was not 100% caused by nature. The flooding triggered by “Pepeng” was exacerbated by the degradation of our environment as well as human miscalculations.

The calamity, which is not unlikely to hit us again with typhoons a regular and expected occurrence in the country, teaches us about the need for greater awareness towards the preservation and protection of environment, particularly against quarrying, the need to dredge rivers continuously, rebuild breached dikes, and planting of trees to delay soil erosion, among others. All these could be done at both the provincial level and through municipal or city initiatives.

The reconstruction also means helping the people build their livelihood back, especially the farmers who were the most affected sector.

Our present local government leaders must be able to see beyond the May polls and think about the lasting effects of what they can still do and deliver to the people in their last few months in office. In doing that and if at the same time they manage to win another three years in service, then they would have truly deserved their elected seat in government.

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